RWBY: Stolen Innocence
by Dust2Dust17
Summary: Ruby has a traumatic experience which she may never recover from or can leave in the past. Rated mature for certain themes. RIP Monty Oum (1981-2015)
1. Introduction

Team STRM ran through the corridor of the compound, stopping to check any door they came across. Turk turned to one on their left and kicked it in. Judging by the look of disappointment on his face, it wasn't the room they were looking for.

"She's not in here." he sighed.

Rocco activated his guitar's axe form and slashed another door off its hinges, only to reveal a small supply closet. He shook his head indicating this was the wrong room as well.

Mei got lucky and heard voices on the other side of the door she found. Kicking it in, she found herself in the view of a number of White Fang members. "Oh, uh, hi! Sorry about the door." she awkwardly chuckled. The White Fang said nothing and instantly drew their weapons or brought out the retractable claws some had. Turk moved in to help her, Ebb and Flow in their shotgun form, but a clawed palm from his Faunus teammate stopped him. "It's okay. I got this. She gave a wink before strutting inside with the broken door shutting behind her followed by the sounds of fighting and gunfire.

"Keep looking. She has to be in one of these." Snow ordered as he kicked in another door. His previous statement proved right to both his pleasure and dismay. A dark rectangular room welcomed him in. Inside was some overturned chairs and a table shoved to one side of the room, opposite of the mission objective. She sat in the back left corner, curled up in a ball and shivering feverishly. Her clothes were tattered quite roughly, leaving her only in a torn combat skirt and ripped hood. Even in the darkness, Snow could make out a number of cuts and bruises across her exposed skin.

"Comrades, she's in here!" Snow called over to his friends as he quickly walked up to her, inspecting her wounds. He was closely followed in by Turk and Rocco as they took in the horrific sight.

"What the...Ruby?" Rocco gasped as he saw the young brunette covered in bruises. She didn't answer and just sat there, still shaking with a terrified look on her face.

"It's okay, Ruby. We're here to get you home. Can you walk?" Snow asked, calmly. She quickly broke her balled-up position and wrapped her arms around the massive albino, catching him off guard. Instead of giving an answer to his question, she simply started whimpering into his shoulder. He could feel part of his sleeve become damp with what he could only assume was tears. Understanding her situation, he picked her up gently and carried her out. Mei took one look at the poor girl as she was carried out and gasped, putting a hand over her mouth in shock. The cteam could only think of one thing to ask to themselves.

"What happened to you, Ruby?"

* * *

><p><strong>Just an interlude for now, this is the intro to what I'm hoping will become a great fic. Stay tuned for the first chapter coming soon.<strong>

**I don't own RWBY, but I do own STRM. If you need an introduction to them, read my previous fic.**


	2. 1: Earlier That Night

_A couple hours ago..._

had fallen over the camp the four girls had set up at the mouth of a cave deep in the forest south of the kingdom of Vale. Ruby had been given first watch while her teammates slept. She reminisced of the previous twelve hours she and her team had spent. Once again, the time for Beacon students to have their teams sent out on missions with actual Huntsmen and Huntresses. Their team, accompanied by Professor Ozpin himself, had chosen to take a scouting mission in a region of the southern forest between Vale and Mountain Glen. Due to the ever present danger of coming across those Goliaths the reaper recalled from her team's previous mission with Doctor Oobleck, they were tasked in an area close to the kingdom borders where Grimm were less likely to traverse. The few Beowolves and Boarbatusks they came across were easily dispatched and any in the surrounding area.

She looked back over to her team. She lightly giggled as the cute sight of her Corgie companion, Zwei, curled up next to a sleeping Blake. The hilarity of how the cat Faunus reacted to her natural instincts and acted the usual way a household cat would react to a dog. She secretly hoped she would wake up to notice the dog using her hip as a pillow. To Blake's left was her snoring older sister, Yang, sprawled out in an awkward position as if she was back in her own bed at their dorm room. Weiss seemed to be the only one in a normal sleeping position, lying on her side to the right of Blake. Ozpin had set up his own site inside the cave in order to give the girls some privacy. Ruby was unsure wether or not the headmaster was still awake.

A sudden faint sound in the forest brought her attention away from her teammates and back into the treeline. She couldn't make out what it was very well, although the campsite was near silent albeit the crackling of the slowly dying campfire. Although her last attempt to track something on their last mission ended with her falling into a cavern and being captured by Torchwick's men, she elected to follow the noise and travel into the forest.

She followed the sound into the forest for a few minutes, each passing step bringing her closer to the source. As she got closer, she was able to start distinguishing the sound. "Voices?" she thought. "Who else could be out here?" She didn't know if anybody else from Beacon was tasked with a mission out here. She knew that JNPR finally took the mission to that village the day that Vale was attacked. Sun's team was also nowhere near Vale on their mission. As for the upperclassmen teams like CFVY and STRM, she could only guess. They went out on missions the day earlier before sunrise and didn't get a chance to wish them luck.

Ruby followed the voices for a while longer. She had no real clue on who they could be or why they were out there. She didn't recognize the voices, nor were they saying anything that could give away their purpose of being this far outside the kingdom. They just seemed to be enjoying small talk about nothing in particular. The conversation rapidly changed topics, pet peeves about a mutual friend of theirs...complaints about their apparent camping conditions...one of them mentioning how he missed Vacuo... Wait, Vacuo? "Could they be White Fang members?" Ruby muttered to herself as she continued her surveillance. Finally coming into view of the source, her hypothesis was proved. In front of her, passing through a naturally formed path were two men dressed in White Fang uniforms. One had a pair of horns poking out from his hood, the assumption being his Faunus traits were that of a gazelle or something like it. The other had the tail of a fox, and seemed to be the shorter of the two, and the only one armed with a submachine gun. Every fiber of the brunette sniper's being wanted her to attack those two, however she knew it would be a much smarter move following them to their campsite. She figured the second option and follow them. They walked for what seemed like another hour. Ruby was starting to worry that Weiss would be waking up soon for her turn for night watch and find her team leader missing. Just when she was ready to stop tracking them, they arrived at a clearing in front of a large cave. Everywhere she looked were tents and crates of unknown contents littered with more White Fang members. She couldn't count exactly how many there were. At least a few dozen were out in the open where she could see them, while there could be more in the tents and caves behind them.

Ruby had no idea this mission would end up scouting on a possible White Fang outpost. The mission objective said it was only to scout outa new area for expansion of the kingdom. Knowing she couldn't take the entire group alone, she decided to call ahead for backup, dialing Ozpin's number on her scroll. After hearing the dial tone three times, she gave a sigh of relief as the voice of the headmaster picked up.

"Ruby? Where are you? Your team and I were worried." Ozpin spoke from the other end of the line.

"Sorry, sir, but I found something. The White Fang set up a camp west of ours!"

"The White Fang? You're absolutely positive?"

"I'm looking right at a camp full of them." She replied, looking over their defenses. "They're all armed with all sorts of weapons, plus I'm seeing a few of those Paladin mechs walking around."

"Where do they keep getting those?" Ozpin wondered aloud. "Ruby, we're on our way to your position. Fall back and we'll plan an attack once we arrive."

"On it." Ruby nodded as she ended the call and turned to leave...coming face to face with a girl her height with multicolored hair and a white jacket. "Oh. Hello. What are you doing here?"

The girl didn't answer. Instead, to Ruby's surprise and with her guard lowered, she never saw the sidekick to her head coming. Knocked over and dazed from the kick, she could see through her blurred vision as the girl kicked away Crescent Rose, which was knocked off her person upon falling over. She produced a parasol, drawing a hidden blade from its handle. Grinning wickedly, she prepared to strike the trespasser, only to be stopped by another voice.

"Neo! What did you find?"

Ruby turned to see the girl called Neo looking up to another new arrival. He wore all black and a Grimm mask over his face. His hair was blood red, and even though she was slightly concussed, Ruby could almost swear he had horns hidden underneath it. "A trespasser, huh?" he looked down at the young Huntress in training. "Find out what she knows."6

Neo simply nodded as the man left and curbstomped Ruby, knocking her unconscious.

* * *

><p>Ozpin put away his scroll and exited the mouth of the cave after retrieving his cane. Outside, the other members of RWBY had been anxiously waiting the results of the phone call their teacher had received.<p>

"Well? Where's my sister?" Yang impatiently asked.

"She's alright. She simply went out in search of something, and came across a White Fang camp." Ozpin reported.

"The White Fang?" Blake quickly sat up from her sleeping pad. "Did you know they were in the area?"

"I assure you we had no previous knowledge the White Fang had been operating in the area other than Mountain Glenn." Ozpin held up a hand defensively.

"Ruby running off and discovering a criminal organization's base of operations? Sounds like Mountain Glenn all over again." Weiss complained. "The only thing we're missing is her getting captured."

Yang glared at the heiress to the world renowned Dust Company for suggesting something like that. "That last time was something nobody saw coming, Weiss. A sinkhole opened that she wasn't expecting." Yang defended her sister.

"Girls, stay focused. You shouldn't assume something bad is going to happen just from past experience." Ozpin said, tapping his cane in order to get their attention off the negative thoughts. "Now, ready up. We're moving out as soon as you're all ready."

* * *

><p>It was some time before Ruby regained consciousness, although she was still badly shaken from her head injury. She found herself slumped against the wall of cave, her legs and arms bound together and her leg binds connected to a metal crate to her left.<p>

"Are you awake now?" a voice brought her attention to the exit of the section of cave she found herself in. In front of her was the Faunus man that found her along with the girl he called Neo earlier.

"What do you want with me?" Ruby asked, struggling to free her hands to no avail.

"Information." the man simply stated, before reaching behind him and returning his hand holding a folded Crescent Rose. "It's not everyday we see trespassers this far out from the kingdom with one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed under her belt without a decent reason." He tossed the weapon to Neo, who in turn left the room with it.

"Hey! Give that back!" Ruby pleaded, trying to follow the tri-colored haired girl out.

"Don't even bother. You're not going anywhere until you answer my questions." the man ordered, stepping closer to the captured brunette. "I can already guess you're a Beacon Academy student, and someone of your age wouldn't be given a mission this far out here alone. So tell me where your team is, and I'll make sure we go easy on you."

Ruby was confused. What did he mean by 'go easy on her'? "And if I don't tell you anything?" she asked. Her answer was never given directly. The masked man called for somebody outside. In entered a White Fang member with a full face mask. He was medium build, but Ruby couldn't make out any physical traits , as any exposed skin was covered. The club he was holding made contact with a full force swing straight to her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and causing her to cough up a small amount of blood. The two waited as their prisoner entered a coughing fit, doubled over for a moment before heavy breathing took over her cough and soon returned to normal.

"Have I incentivized you enough to talk now?" The leading man asked. "How many are in your group of friends?"

"I won't tell you...anything!" Ruby gasped as she still felt the pain from the first clubbing.

"Wrong answer." he replied in a near monotonous tone. His assistant delivered another blow to Ruby, hitting her in the leg and leaving a sickening crack sound echoing for a second. Ruby yelped in pain as the sensation spread across her lower left leg. It didn't feel broken, but still did enough damage to hurt the bone in some way or form. "If you must know, I have some form of morals. I don't want to hurt you. However, my assistant here doesn't, and he will continue to hurt you until you tell me what I want to know."

Ruby cringed as the pain in her leg radiated again. "I won't...sell out my friends...so easily." she grunted, spitting out some blood she coughed up from the first hit.

Before the leader could order another pummeling to the girl, a knock on the door came, and a female member of the White Fang with deer antlers entered. "Adam, sir, scouts reported seeing a four person team in the vicinity of the camp." He looked back at Ruby, who was slightly wide-eyed at the news her friends showed up.

"It seems I got my answer." he smirked at his prisoner. "Tell the men not to engage unless attacked first." the deer Faunus nodded and left the room.

"What about her, Boss?" the masked Faunus asked Adam. He gave a glance at the young captive, unsure of wether they let her go, or leave her here as a prisoner or bargaining chip.

"You've done well. Do with her what you please." Adam simply stated as he turned to the door. "Just clean up if you leave a mess." he finished before leaving.

Satisfied with his leader's answer, he dropped his club and cracked his knuckles as he turned to the prisoner. "Oh, man. This is gonna be fun."

Ruby only let out a small peep before the White Fang member kneeled over her, ready to finish what he started.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, outside, the rest of Team RWBY and Ozpin had reached the rendevouz point they had arranged with their leader earlier. Looking around for a moment, they quickly realized the missing member was nowhere to be found.<p>

"This is the location Ruby gave us. Does anyone have eyes on her?" Ozpin asked, looking around.

"I don't see her." Blake said, shaking her head. While the others gave similar answers, Zwei was busy sniffing the ground around them. He quickly perked up and ran in between a couple of bushes after an unknown object or person.

"Zwei? Did you find Ruby, boy?" Yang asked, following her pet into the bushes, closely followed by her other teammates. She entered a small clearing to a sight she hoped not to find: Zwei circling Ruby's discarded scroll, and numerous scuff marks and footprints across the dirt floor. "Oh no."

"I knew this was going to happen!" Weiss flusteredly complained. "Now we have to go save her again."

"I don't think we can..." Blake sighed as she looked past the trees to everyone's right. Ozpin came to her side, taking a look for himself.

"What are you talking about? We are getting my sister back, and beating the tar out of whoever took her in the first place!" Yang said, readying Ember Celica as she brought her fists together.

"Yang, I'm inclined to agree with you, but Blake is right." Ozpin replied. Yang and Weiss, still unsure of what the other two meant were motioned to come over. Through the trees, they saw the dozens upon dozens of White Fang members armed to the teeth with weapons, Paladin mechs as well roaming throughout the large clearing turned into a staging area. "Even with all our skills combined, there's too many for us to take on unassisted."

"Well, what are we supposed to do? Wait and hope they just give Ruby back to us?" Weiss asked.

"I came prepared. Professor Port and Team STRM should be flying over soon on their way back from their mission." Ozpin explained, pulling up a multitude of shared texts between the headmaster and their eccentric teacher. "They should be here soon.

"I'm not going to sit around and wait while they do Monty knows what to my sister!" Yang practically screamed, as she charged through the treeline, into a group of White Fang members with guns drawn and pointed at the blonde boxer. Before the bullets instantly fired at her made contact, a giant glyph formed in front of a taken aback Yang. Opening one eye, the blonde noticed Weiss next to her with her saber drawn, glaring disapprovingly at her partner.

"You just made the biggest dolt move ever in the time I've known you." she sighed as she dropped the glyph and the White Fang members kept their guns trained on the Huntresses.

From the cave's mouth stepped out a luitenent of the White Fang Weiss remembered well, chainsword in hand, looking out at the dozens of his men ready to fight the new arrivals.

"Well isn't this my luck? I get another chance to kill the same Schnee from last time." he chuckled. Unknown to the group of Huntresses-in-Training and their teacher, he was grinning wildly underneath his mask. "Prepare to fire on my mark!" he ordered, raising a hand to the air to signal for the group of White Fang members to take aim.

Just as the sound of weapon safeties clicking off echoed throughout the staging area, everyone stopped and turned to a new sound. Streaking toward them from the sky was a dropship heading straight over the clearing. As it flew over, five individuals jumped out the side door, two of them prepping their first attacks as they struck the ground. On one side, dozens of White Fang initiates were instantly frozen in a gigantic patch of ice thanks to a downward strike from a familiarly intricately designed broadsword. To the other side, a thunderclap sounded as a battle axe struck the ground and sent an electrical pulse around, paralyzing some White Fang members and causing a Paladin to short out from the discharge of lighting Dust energy. Snow and Rocco quickly removed their weapons from the ground as Mei, Turk, and Professor Port landed between them.

"Are we late for the festivities, Ozpin?" Peter asked his old friend and boss.

"Just in time, Peter." Ozpin nodded, unsheathing the hidden sword in his cane, and extending the collapsible staff that also acted as the sheathe and leg of the cane. "Send STRM into the caves. They have Ruby!"

"Dear me!" the mustachioed professor gasped as he drew his blunderbuss. "You heard the headmaster! Go save the poor girl!"

"On it!" Turk nodded as he readied Ebb and Flow for battle. STRM and their professor slowly backed in on each other as the White Fang mechs surrounded them. "We just have to take care of these guys first..."

Mei simply gave a cocky smirk and readied her claws. "Hey, Snow! Give us a pattern already!"

"Attack Paterns Snowcat and Blues Rock! Engage!" he ordered as his broadsword transformed into it's flail form. Whipping it around, Mei jumped onto the Morningstar and equipped an ice Dust crystal to her gauntlets, firing ice-infused senbon at the Paladins and freezing them in their weak spots such as limb joints and exhaust ports, also making them easy targets for the flail to knock over as the cat Faunus left her perch on top of it. On the final one that Snow and Mei's combo attack had missed, Rocco and Turk were making quick work of it. Turk had lodged hs trident into a access port on the top of the metal behemoth, giving his teammate the go-ahead to hammer that in and disable the machine with a well places smash from his guitar case. Launching himself into the air with his case's built in cannon, he brought the case down as hard as he could into the mech. It sputtered and sparked as the trident pierced the brains of the robotic suit before it finally fell forward, allowing Turk to retrieve his weapon.

"So are you all going to stand there, or deal with these guys while we're busy?" Rocco called to their professors and the first year students as they started heading for the cave.

"Right behind you. Go!" Ozpin nodded as he charged through multiple White Fang members, either knocking them aside with his staff twirling in one hand while deflecting strikes with his sword in the other. The girls of Team RWBY were to busy themselves to be impressed by their headmaster's abilities as the White Fang descended upon them. Weiss and Blake were back to back as they made quick work of the criminal Faunus surrounding them, while Yang was holding her own quite easily as she and Professor Port were helping clear the way for STRM to enter the caves. The luitenant still sat in the way, ready to counter the charge of the upperclassmen team. Instead of lifting his chainsword to attack a nearby Mei, Peter jumped in and used the axe blades of his blunderbuss to block his strike as STRM ran past them, quickly starting to look through different nooks and crannies in the cave as they went in deeper. As Peter and the luitenant broke off their standoff, Yang jumped in front and delivered a flurry of punches to knock him off guard, followed by an uppercut that sent him flying into the inside wall of the cave, rendering him unconscious. Giving a nod to the mustachioed professor for the assist, she ran into the cave.

"Ruby! I'm coming, Sis!"

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><p><strong>And the first chapter is done! Hope you liked it, and I'm sorry, but the next few may be a little late as I have a lot more on my plate with my current semester of college ending soon, plus a few other personal issues. It shouldn't be too big of a delay for the next chapter, but still, with finals coming up, it's going to cut back on my time for writing this fic. Please bare with me, and stay tuned!<strong>


	3. 2: From Bad to Worse

_Present Time..._

Yang ran through the cavern, looking through the numerous makeshift rooms set up to divide the cave into different sections. It had been apparent this was supposedly a much more permanent home for the White Fang than that underground train station at Mountain Glenn. But that wasn't the point now. She was terrified that her sister was in trouble, a feeling she didn't experience very much. No. Don't think like that. Ruby is going to be okay. She's going to round this corner with Team STRM right behind her, and jump into your arms safe and unharmed just like last time. All she needed to do was get around that corner...

...And realize her fears were true. The blonde brawler stopped dead in her tracks and put on a thousand yard stare. In the arms of the towering albino and his team walking towards her was her sister, beaten, bruised, her favorite cloak nothing but a rag full of rips in the fabric. Whatever other articles of clothing left on her were also torn, making her look like a common street urchin. She lay in his arms, in a way that her head fell back awkwardly making her unsure wether her half-sister was alive or not. For a moment, Yang was speechless. Too many conflicting emotions were preventing her from saying anything. A mix of fear, anger, frustration, and shame that the Beacon students and instructors couldn't get to her sooner welled up all in the instant she saw Ruby's condition. Tears stung her eyes as she slowly crept towards STRM and Ruby, speeding up to a brisk walk to full out sprinting up to Snow, the only sound emitting from her being hyperventilation and choked back sobs of anguish as she tried to regain her composure.

"She's alive, I assure you." Snow said in a nearly monotonous tone.

Yang didn't answer. None of the upperclassmen could even make out her expression as her blonde locks fell over her face, shielding her eyes from the view. She ran a hand through Ruby's hair, matted with sweat and a sticky redness Yang was positive wasn't her red dye as her fingers grazed a small gash on her forehead under her bangs where Neo curbstomped her.

"Yang? Where are you?" Blake's voice rang out throughout the cave from where Yang had entered. It was now evident the White Fang had been defeated out front as the rest of her fellow combatants entered the cavern, and rounded the corner with similar reactions that their eldest member of RWBY had. While Blake was had an expression of pure shock, Weiss had a hand over her mouth and an immediate look of worry for her team leader. "Oh my god, is she alright?" the Faunus in disguise asked.

"She will be the sooner we get her out of here." Turk answered. "Can you call the dropship back, Professor?"

"I'll get to doing so right away." Professor Port answered as Snow followed him back to the main exit with Ruby, the others in tow, except for Yang. She just stood there , looking into the hallway STRM came from after finding her sister.

"Yang, what are you doing? We need to go." Weiss asked as she looked back to see her teammate had not followed the group. Yang muttered something incoherent to the rest of them. "What was that?"

"I said...I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL WHOEVER DID THIS!" Yang screamed at the top of her lungs as her eyes turned a brighter shade of red than they ever had been before. Her blonde locks turned neon white as fire exploded around her wrists, causing the nearest people to her to back away quickly to avoid the cinders. She then followed up with charging, blinded by rage, deeper into the cave.

"Dammit, Yang! Get back here!" Weiss yelled as she and Blake followed their beserking friend back down the hall.

"You two, follow them, and make sure they can get Miss Xiao Long under control." Ozpin turned to Rocco and Turk, who gave silent nods before following the combat ready members of RWBY back the way they came.

* * *

><p>Further down the cave was another exit that led out to a large cliff that sat two dropships ready to take the only remaining stragglers of the White Fang away from the possibility of being captured. Some were helping whatever wounded they could gather before running away from the Huntsmen and Huntresses. A third containing Neo and the interrogator had already left with some supplies essential for the master plan. The second had been loaded with regular White Fang troops and was just taking off as Adam exited the cave and started heading for the door to the aircraft when the sound of screaming and rapid footsteps brought his attention away from leaving just yet.<p>

"You're going to pay, you fucking bastards!" a female voice yelled. Ready to intercept the incoming enemies, Adam readied Wilt and Blush, his hand on the hilt of the blade and ready to draw as soon as whatever coming his way . He nearly missed his opportunity to strike as suddenly an enraged girl with shotgun gauntlets came at him, ready to drive a strong punch into his face. He was able to duck out of the way and drew his sword as the girl ran right past him. He spun on his heel, ready to bring a slash across the attacker, only for it to be absorbed in a shadow of Blake...wait, what?

Adam resheathed his sword as he looked over to his former partner, who had landed in front of the berserker with her Gambol Shroud's katana form directed at the person attacking her friend. She seemed just as surprised as he was that the two of them had encountered each other since that train robbery where Blake abandoned him. "Adam? I...What are you doing working with these people?"

"Blake...I was hoping you never had to see me doing this." Adam sighed.

"You know this degenerate, Blake?" Weiss asked, very surprised, but still not lowering her saber. Blake didn't bother to respond.

"Why would you do this? The White Fang would never resort to this kind of violence! How could you let this happen?" Blake practically screamed, her eyes glinting with tears.

"You don't understand, Blake. What we're doing is getting us closer to our original goal faster than we ever have been." Adam tried to explain. "You left at the worst time! You could've finally gotten what you wanted!"

"Not like this, Adam. I can't just sit by as Faunus earn their rights through senseless violence! Did you see what Torchwick did to Vale with the troops you lent him?" She yelled.

Adam looked to the ground. "I hoped you would understand if you ever saw us again. I'm offering an olive branch here. Come back to us, and we promise never to harm your friends again."

Blake blinked away some tears before looking back at her former mentor and partner. "I wish I could believe that." she said unemotionally as she reentered her battle stance. Adam sighed and drew his katana, not even a moment between the two readying to fight passed before they clashed swords, entering a fight full of slashes, gunshots from Blake's weapon's alternative mode, and interruptions from Yang, still in blind fury, as Adam quickly kicked her aside every time.

"Weiss, can you get her under control?" Blake called to her scar-faced friend as she dodged a sweep from her former partner as Yang took her place and threw a few jabs at Adam, one hit to the shoulder actually landing, causing the White Fang commander to reel back a bit, A glyph from Weiss suddenly shoved Yang from the middle of the battle to the side. Weiss darted in between the two dueling former friends as she pinned Yang for a moment, trying to get the blonde to calm down.

"Yang! Listen to me and snap out of it, you dolt!" Weiss snapped at the enraged girl, only to be tossed aside and running back towards Adam with a fist ready to get plowed into the masked face of the Faunus.

"Yang, no!" Blake screamed as she deflected a blow from Adam, and redirected Yang's fist into the ground, causing an explosion that sent the four of them flying. Weiss landed on her feet near the dropship while the rest were blown into the side of the cave. Yang and Adam were slightly bruised from the blast, but it seems Blake took the brunt of the hit, now bleeding from numerous new cuts across her body, and even bleeding from her cat ears, her bow having been torn off by Adam's blade. Yang slowly got up and faced Adam, who also readied an attack for the boxer. Blake was slow to get up, but reacted in time to dash in between the two. Before she could utter out a cry for both of them to stop, not wanting to see either one get anymore hurt, the attack meant for Yang connected with an unintended target: Blake's throat.

Both people suddenly stopped everything they were doing and watched as Blake wedged herself off of Adam's blade, then immediately clutching the front of her neck with both hands while she looked at Adam with tear-filled eyes. She could see Adam mouthing the words over and over again, "I'm sorry." before he took off running for the dropship which flew off as soon as he jumped on. Yang just stood there, her eyes and hair returning to normal as her anger was replaced with concern as Blake doubled over. Weiss quickly came to as Rocco and Turk ran up behind her from the cave.

"What the hell is going-" Rocco asked before he took a look at Blake, now in Yang's arms as the blonde was trying to help keep pressure on the wound, tears streaming down her face as she mouthed silent apologies to the Faunus. Blake wasn't responding. She just coughed up blood and looked upwards with tears streaming down her face as well, although not for the same reason Yang was. "Oh shit! Turk!"

"I'm already on it!" Turk snapped as he briskly walked over to the injured Huntress, taking out a bottle of water from Flow as he kneeled down and began trying to use his semblance to close the wound. "Come on, stay with me, Blake!" he demanded as the Faunus girl started slowly closing her eyes.

"What-what happened to Blake?" Weiss stammered, very visably confused what had just happened,

"I didn't mean...I'm so sorry, Blake!" Yang cried as she removed her hands as Turk got to work using his healing semblance to close Blake's wound.

Weiss took the hint from Yang's words, and instantly turned to the blonde, clocking her in the side of the face. "Why couldn't you just calm down!? Do you see what you did!?" Weiss screamed as she shook Yang by the shoulders.

"Dammit, Weiss! Don't you think I know that?" Yang sobbed as Weiss let go of her, the blonde burying her head in her hands. "It's because of me she got hurt...I know...I just...I lost it, alright? I know that. I should be the one who got cut and not her! I should have been captured instead of Ruby and maybe this wouldn't have happened!" she ended that torrent of shame with more sobbing.

Weiss suddenly felt awful. After seeing that display of acceptance of the consequence of her actions, Weiss understood that Yang felt awful for what had happened. She turned back to Blake and Turk. He had finished stopping the bleeding, but Blake still seemed out of conscious. He put an ear to her face, giving a relieved sigh when he heard her take a deep breath.

"She's going to be okay, but she needs more medical treatment than I can give her right now. " he explained, slinging his trident onto his back and carefully picking up the downed Huntress before handing her to Rocco. "Get her to the ship with Ruby."

Weiss reached down and helped Yang up, giving her a hug to let her know she understood and was sorry. Yang lightly returned it as she choked back another sob. "Come on. Let's make sure they're both okay." Weiss gave a rare reassuring smile as she led the blonde behind Rocco and back through the caves.

* * *

><p>Back on the dropship that had left not even minutes ago, Adam stared back at the direction they flew away from, lamenting how his last strike had hit his childhood friend and former partner. His thoughts were distracted by the sound of his phone ringing. He knew it was Cinder, calling to find out what happened to the outpost. He elected to ignore the call. His thoughts were too heavy to be distracted with a chewing out from the seductive leader of this effort. He looked back down at his sword, still stained with the blood of Blake halfway up the edge. Disgusted, he threw the weapon out of the dropship, not caring what would happen to it. He knew that he was going to be seeing it again in his nightmares anyway.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, so procrastination has decided to be a bitch and make me skip schoolwork to finish this, but I had to get it on paper while it was still fresh in my mind. Much shorter than last time, but that should be normal for the next couple of chapters. Next chapter will come soon, and will show off yet another reason why I decided to rate this for mature. Stick around and find out why of you can't guess next time!<strong>


	4. 3: Aftermath

"...and we managed to locate Ruby's weapon in another area of the hideout." Ironwood's voice echoed through the communications device and into the ear of Beacon's headmaster. The general and his Atlesian troops had shown up to clean up the mess left behind from the battle just as the Beacon students were boarding their own dropships to take them to the nearest medical center. " I'll be sure it's returned to her upon her recovery."

"I don't think she'll ever recover fully, but see that it is, James. Thank you." Ozpin sighed as he looked at one of the stretchers set up on either side of the dropship. To the left of the craft was Blake, her throat wrapped in bandages with multiple wounds across other parts of her body. Even unconscious, tears still occasionally streamed from her closed eyes. Ruby was curled back into a ball underneath a blanket, her silvered eyes still closed from her passing out back in the caves only to regain consciousness as she was taken into the dropship. Ozpin wasn't sure what had happened to the poor ace student, however he could see it in her eyes it was more than enough to traumatize the poor thing.

"You should be the one receiving thanks. You and your student's actions destroyed a major supply route for the White Fang." Ironwood praised his old friend. "I'll be sure to inform the council of this, but for now, I need to go. Tell your students they did a fantastic job." With that sentence, the line's connection was dropped, and Ozpin put his scroll away.

"...despite the outcome." he thought to himself. He looked to the students sitting next to him. Yang had calmed down substantially since the fit of rage she entered, but she came out with an injured Blake almost as shaken as Ruby looked upon her discovery. Weiss was standing over Ruby, petting her head lightly as Zwei curled up into a ball under Ruby's stretcher. Both had managed to regain their composure, but Weiss' solemn face and Zwei's occasional whimpers showed they were still very much worried for their leader's condition both physical and mental. Turk, the only other to be on this dropship while Port and the others of STRM took a second, was tending to Blake's other wounds, keeping pressure on a puncture wound sustained in her fight with Adam on her exposed midriff. The major wound she sustained had been more or less closed, but Turk's semblance could only do so much. His aura was drained trying to stop the majority of the bleeding and close up the gash that almost made it halfway through her neck. Only typical first aid was all he could do now to try and help them. He had given Ruby a quick examining as they took off from the hideout, but all he could really do was administer some painkillers and put a bandage over the cut on her forehead.

"Professor." Yang suddenly spoke up, derailing the Huntsman's train of thought.

"Yes, Yang?" he acknowledged.

'I want to be expelled from Beacon."

Weiss and Turk did simultaneous double takes as the blonde brawler spoke her request.

"Yang, what reason do I have to expel you from the academy?" Ozpin asked. In all his years teaching young warriors, he's never had a student willingly request for an expulsion before.

"My stupid actions nearly caused a teammate of mine to die. I went against orders given to me and it ended up like this!" she pointed at her two injured teammates, both friend and sister. The glistening in her eyes showed the water works were ready to flow again.

"Yang, there was nothing you could have done to prevent this." Weiss tried to explain.

"I should have been able to do something!" Yang cried. "It's all because of me that Blake got her throat slashed. It was me that drew the longest straw when we were deciding who should be the first night guard! I could've just maybe, think with me for a moment, volunteered, and now maybe Ruby wouldn't be the one on a stretcher right now!"

Ozpin bit his lip as he looked down at the blonde, who once again had tears running down her face. "Yang, listen to me. Seeing the ones you care about injured is indeed a hard thing to look away from, but never for a second think that something you had no control over should put every ounce of blame on yourself. I know someone who knows about that more than anyone else..." He sighed for a moment before thinking of what to say next to try and convince the blonde brawler to stay her path. "If you let this one mistake haunt you to the point of abandoning your dreams, it will be an irreversible action you'll never forgive yourself from doing. Think hard about this request, and if you still feel strongly about it, see me in my office tomorrow."

Yang looked up at him nodding, as she wiped away some tears. She looked back towards the doors as the dropships landed on the helipad of Vale Memorial Hospital. A team of orderlies had already been waiting and quickly removed the stretchers carrying Ruby and Blake to the infirmary. Turk followed in tow, explaining to a nurse the extent of their injuries. As Weiss, Yang and Ozpin followed them out, the aircraft that flew them here was quickly replaced by the one carrying the remainder of Team STRM, Professor Port, and Zwei.

"Are the girls going to be alright?" Port asked, watching as the elevator doors closed behind the group of medical technicians escorting the two stretchers to the lower floors of the medical center.

"I believe they will recover." Ozpin assured the group. "Misses Xiao Long and Schnee is going to stay behind and wait on Ruby's recovery. Would you mind watching their pet for them?" The headmaster heard of the little Corgi's actions at Mountain Glenn and upon return, not only allowed the girls to keep their pet much to Glynda's protests, but also made him a school mascot of sorts.

"I'd be happy to oblige!" Peter smiled through his mustache, turning to the pup who still seemed concerned for his owners. "I assure you, Zwei. They'll be alright. How about we go visit your friend Bartholomew to cheer you up?" The corgi perked up upon hearing Oobleck's name and barked in agreement. "Splendid! Team STRM, you're dismissed. Do as you wish to either stay here or return with me to Beacon."

"As much as we'd like to get some rest, we want to make sure Team RWBY is alright." Mei answered, Rocco and Snow nodding in agreement.

"Very well then. I'll credit you for your actions in both missions as extra credit. Keep up the good work and remember..." Port announced to them.

"We know, 'Stay vigilant'." Rocco finished for the professor, who gave a hearty laugh as he and Zwei were carried back to Beacon. They waived goodbye as they followed the other three to the elevators.

* * *

><p>Yang watched as they wheeled Ruby out of the emergency room on a gurney about an hour after arriving. She was now wrapped in bandages across her torso, arms, face and forehead, as well as a brace on her left leg. Her torn clothes were replaced by a hospital gown. Before she could even think to herself, a doctor had walked up to her and pulled her aside into a nearby office.<p>

"You said you were Ruby's biological sister, right?" he asked her as the two sat down.

"Yeah. Is my sister alright?" Yang asked, leaning forward in the chair.

The doctor pulled up a tablet with a lot of data on Ruby's injuries as well as a few pictures of x-rays taken of her leg and skull. "Well, physically, her injuries aren't anything overly serious. She has a minor concussion from a head injury and a small fracture on her left leg." he rambled, expanding the x-ray photos. Her skull didn't seem like anything was wrong, except for a small circled area inside the brain cavity that she couldn't really tell what was wrong with the area. Her leg x-ray was much more clear, a thin crack running just under her kneecap that branched into two different as the fibula and tibia split from another naturally.

"Okay...but what do you mean by physically?" Yang asked, confused by the previous statement.

"She seems to have gone through some mental and emotional trauma from her encounter-" The doctor explained before the blonde cut him off.

"Well, wouldn't you if they captured you and beat you up?" Yang snapped.

"Well, yes, but they seem to have done something else." he answered. Yang shut up and leaned forward more. "We found quite a lot of bruising around her...Well, I'm not exactly sure how else to say it, but there's indication she was sexually assaulted."

Yang's calmness shattered right then and there. "They RAPED my sister!?" she shrieked. Every fiber of her wanted to get back out there and beat them senseless, but the fight earlier had left her beyond exhausted, and all that would be there were investigators getting evidence from the White Fang hideout. She had no real idea how to react, so she just gave a blank stare as she looked down for a moment at the floor, her head in her hands.

"Unfortunately, it appears so. I can tell this is difficult for you so I won't go into details." the doctor replied as he got up from the desk and put a hand on her shoulder. "Just know, when she wakes up, she's going to need your full support and comfort when she comes to." He looked as though he was going to continue until a sudden beeping on his pager went off. "I'm sorry, I have another patient in need."

With that said, he briskly walked out of the office, his occupancy replaced by that of Yang's white-haired teammate. Immediately she saw the expression plastered on Yang's face and was once again worried more than she should be. "Yang, what happened? Is Ruby going to be alright?" she asked. Instead of receiving an answer, she noticed the blonde's cheeks puff up, followed by her grabbing a nearby plastic trash can and emptying her stomach's contents into it. "Oh gross! Yang!" Ignoring her, Yang brought her face back into the bucket until she was sure she was done vomiting. Since then, Weiss had came over to her and helped her hold her hair back so that it wouldn't fall into the mess inside the wastebasket. Yang took a few deep breaths before finally answering her earlier question.

"They raped her, Weiss..." she simply said before the heiress' eyes went wide and a hand covered her mouth in shock.

"You can't be serious. She's not even eighteen..." Weiss quietly said, still trying to understand what she just heard.

"That's what they said...All the signs were there." Yang said, getting up.

"It explains why she looked so scared when Snow's team found her." Weiss agreed, looking away for a moment. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I just need some air..." the blonde sighed, leaving Weiss and the room behind as she went back to the helipad on the roof. She spent a minute trying to accept the new information about what happened to her sister when she was captured in the caverns, none of it good of course. It then transferred to what Professor Ozpin told her when she was asking for expulsion. What he explained about her request made some good points, but this news just brought more doubt into her mind. The confusion turned into frustration as she drove her fist carelessly into a nearby wall, emitting an audible crack as she busted three of her knuckles wide open. She then crumpled to her knees as she clutched her fist in agony, tears once again starting to form behind her eyes. She looked back up as the chime of the elevator sounded and the doors opened to reveal Weiss, who instantly gave her a look that screamed 'Are you serious?' before sighing and taking a look at her hand.

"Let's get your hand patched up." she sighed, her scowl still on her face as she dragged the blonde back to the elevator.

* * *

><p>It had been a few hours since Yang had her hand fixed up. That one punch broke four of her knuckles, and created compound fractures on her thumb and ring finger. Because of that, her entire left hand was wrapped in gauze, her fingers in splints with extra surgical tape around them for good measure. Her right, which her gaze was fixated on, held onto that of her sister's hand. As soon as the nurses had fixed up her hand, Yang had gone straight to the crimson reaper's room to keep watch over her. Nurses had come in to let her know visiting hours ended, but none had the heart to actually say anything as soon as they saw the look in her eyes, reddened from crying.<p>

A knock on the door didn't take her gaze off her right hand, nor her thoughts went to trying to figure out who it could be. The last she saw of Weiss was when she entered Blake's room before Ruby was brought out of treatment for her injuries, and she was sure STRM were in the waiting room down the hall, so who it could be was a question she didn't care to ask.

"Yang..."

Her eyes widened as she recognized the voice. Turning to it, she saw a man just about Ozpin's age with blonde hair and silvered eyes , a thin goatee also being sported.

"Dad..." Yang stifled a cry as she held her hands out to Taiyang, who quickly came over to give his eldest daughter a hug. Once she made contact, she broke down again, sobbing into his chest.

"I know. I heard as well." he quietly said as he patted her head, looking over to his younger daughter. Ozpin had already given his recounting of what the nurses informed him of Ruby's condition. While he was feeling the exact same type of anger and guilt that his daughter was, he had to remain strong for the three of them. "He also says you want out of Beacon."

Yang stopped crying and broke away from their hug, ready to explain herself. "What he told me started making me change my mind, but after hearing what they did to her just replaced the doubt."

Taiyang sat down next to her on Ruby's bed. Before talking, he took a long look at the younger child, tussling some of the hair on her head as he had done since the brunette that took after his second wife was a young girl. "You remember the day I lost Summer, right Yang?" he said solemnly.

Yang did a double take. Why was he bringing that up? "Of course. What does that have to do with this?"

"It wasn't her decision to go on that mission we lost her because of. I was busy with work at Signal and asked her to take it for me." he explained. Yang gave a silent gasp. All this time, she didn't realize the mission was never Summer's to begin with. "I had no idea what it would lead to, how it would cost her her life. I always thought it should have been me, just like you are now."

"How did you live with yourself knowing that?" Yang asked.

The man looked at his eldest and gave a sigh. "I can't. To this day, hearing your uncle tell me I lost another great love of mine to a mission was the hardest thing I've had to hear. Hearing my own child was...raped..." he spat the word out like sour milk. He had never seen anything like thus happening to either of his girls after departing for Beacon. "...That also is something I can't live with. I know it seems hard, but you learn to accept the fact it happened and move on from it. You never truly live burdened with memories like these for the rest of your life." He looked back at his daughters individually. "Yang, please, don't let this memory ruin your dream of adventuring. I've always wanted the two of you to be happy, and I feel like staying miserable from the thought of what happened here today will ruin your goals."

Yang felt more tears build up behind her eyes, but these ones were different. They felt happier. Wiping them away, she hugged her father lightly. "Thanks, Dad. I needed to hear that."

A sudden stirring and a groan behind them. They turned to see Ruby slowly opening her eyes. "Y-Yang? Dad?"

"Hey, Little Rose." Taiyang smiled down at his younger of his two girls. Ruby didn't answer, but just started whimpering as she held her arms out for a hug that the two of them gladly returned.

"It's going to be okay, Ruby. We're here to help you through this." Yang assured her.

* * *

><p>In a nearby room, Blake lay still out of consciousness since her loss of it after being gravely wounded by Adam during their fight at the caverns. It had been long since she was wheeled out from the emergency ward before her team leader. She had bandages all over her face, neck and torso, with small bandaids over the smaller cuts and bruises on her arms and legs. Like how Yang kept watch over her younger sister a few rooms down the hall, Weiss was still wide awake as she stared out the window by Blake's bed. Vale looked much nicer at night, the lights from shops and streetlights casting a nice glow upon the city. For a while now, she was trying to do anything she could to take her mind off of her teammate's condition. Even though the doctors informed her and Yang that their two friends would make full recoveries, she couldn't help but feel worried, especially with the determination that Ruby wasn't just beaten by the White Fang but sexually assaulted as well. The sound of the door opening brought her attention off the urban backdrop and to the new arrival entering the hospital room.<p>

"Oh, sorry. I didn't think anyone else was in here." Mei apologized as she gave a small wave to the white-haired heiress.

"It's okay. What are you still doing here?" Weiss asked as the Faunus shut the door quietly.

"I was going to head back to Beacon after I checked up on how she and Ruby were doing." she replied, nodding to Blake. "I gotta say, I knew she was one of us, but I wasn't expecting her to be part cat too."

That was when Weiss remembered Blake lost her bow back at the caverns while Yang was going berserk. "How did you know?"

"All Faunus can tell each other apart, even if they can mask their features." Mei explained, moving some hair out of the way from the side of her head, revealing cat-like ears. The eyes and tail were enough for people to know what she was, but the ears almost seemed excessive.

"Did you ever hide it?" Weiss asked. As soon as she did, the smile dimmed on Mei's face.

"Yes and no." Mei began. "When my mom and I first moved here from Vacuo, she wanted me to hide it from the very moment we took our first steps into Vale. Every chance I got, as soon as I was away from her, I would get rid of my disguise. The contacts she gave me to hide my eyes made them itch and water uncontrollably, and tucking a tail like this under a hoodie isn't that comfortable."

"I can...imagine..." A raspy voice sounded. Both girls turned suddenly to the bed, where Blake was struggling to get up into a sitting position.

"Blake!" Weiss gasped as she quickly walked over to her side just to push her back down underneath the covers. "Don't try to get up or speak. You need your rest. And the doctors said your vocal chords-"

She was cut off as the injured Faunus's hand was placed over her mouth. With her other hand, she motioned to Mei to pass her the tablet at the end of her bed, acting as a chart for her nurse to record her recovery progress upon. After Mei complied and handed her the device, she opened up a blank page on the document application on it and began typing, before showing her finished product to Weiss. "Do you ever shut up?" it simply read. Weiss rolled her eyes and pouted as she moved the hand away.

"Blake, this is serious. You nearly died during the fight with that degenerate with the sword." Weiss lectured.

Blake's expression turned dark as she frantically began typing. "Don't call Adam that!" she 'said'.

Mei and Weiss looked at each other, confused why she would defend someone who tried to end her life. "Why would you defend somebody like him?" the white-haired duelist asked.

Blake gave an inaudible sigh, and began typing out her explaination. "Because he was like a brother to me..." it began.

* * *

><p>Nineteen years ago...<p>

It was a rainy night near the dividing line of Vytal that separated the kingdoms of Vacuo and Vale. The small meeting house claimed by the White Fang as a base of operations was the only building at the time of night with any lights on, evenif they were only candles. Inside was a large room that served both as a meeting room, dining hall, and unfortunately tonight, a nursery and morgue. Off to the side away from the lit fireplace stood a cot, a motionless body covered in a sheet lay upon it. Nearby in a makeshift crib formed from pillows and a basket that was used to hold extra firewood lay a small newborn child with a light coating of black hair and a pair of kitten's ears sprouting from her head. While she lay asleep, three older men and two women sat around the table at the center of the room in a grim discussion.

"This wasn't how it should have gone..." one of the women, sporting deer antlers protruding from her forehead under brown bands whimpered, her head in her hands in both disbelief and sorrow."

"Bambi, there wasn't anything that could've prevented what happened. Your skills as a medical practicioner are not at fault for tonight's events." The eldest of the men at the table, a somewhat long grey beard and equally shaggy hair spoke, his canine-ears twitching as the newborn gave a soft whine in her slumber.

"Master Lupus is right, Bambi. You were Midna's best friend..." another started, another dog-faunus with brown hair and much younger than the White Fang founder.

"But I couldn't save her! She trusted me with her and her child's life and I couldn't do anything to help her pain!" Bambi sobbed as she brought her head to the table, the younger of the two canine Faunuses at the table helping her out to get some air and try to calm down. The remaining three turned to each other as the door closed. Silence passed for a moment before the leader spoke up again.

"Kai, Noire." He acknowledged the two others at the table, Vanessa being the second female Faunus, sporting cat's ears and yellow eyes under jet black hair. Kai, who kept most of his features hidden under a cloth mask that covered his mouth, but what couldn't be hidden were his serpent-like eyes, and speech impediment whenever he spoke.

"Yesssss, Masssster Lupusss?" Kai asked, the snake Faunus turning to his master.

"Seeing that you two were the closest to Midna Belladonna, I feel it should only be right that you choose who should raise her child." Lupus spoke, turning to look at the newborn girl laying feet away from her deceased mother.

"That's a difficult thing to do, Master..." Noire hesitantly spoke, trying to keep her composure as she looked on from the child to the bed that contained her dead sister.

"I know it is, but the child is your niece." Lupus sighed, taking her hand in his, followed by him reaching out to Kai's scaled hand. "And you were named the godfather since the father left. It comes down to you to decide her fate."

"I wasssss thinking we drop her off at an orphanage, give her a chance to grow up asssss a real child sssshould inssstead of being raisssed in an environment sssuch as this." Kai suggested. He had seen many Faunus friends of his hurt during their peaceful protests. It pained him the idea to see the child growing up, constantly beaten by humans who didn't support their demands for equality and change.

"You can't be serious, Kai. They'd notice she was a Faunus right away and lop off her ears to pass her off for human!" Noire cried. She had seen it happen to a Faunus child long ago. It was a horrific sight to say the least.

"It would be better ssspending a few daysss in pain rather than an entire lifetime! We couldn't posssssibly let her grow up consssstantly being hit with rocksss or fisssstsss like those sssssavage humanssss from yessssterday!" Kai argued, pointing to a long cut stitched on his exposed forearm from a human who interrupted their rally with a knife in hand.

"We'd do our best to keep her away from such danger then." Noire countered.

"We have rockssss and the like thrown at this housssse daily! What if one went through a window and hit her?" Kai retorted.

"Enough, both of you!" Lupus spoke in a harsh whisper. "Kai, you focus too much on hypotheticals. You may be the godfather, but as a blood relative and an aunt, Noire has authority over the matter."

"Then why assssk me to help decide if it hassss already been made up?" Kai questioned.

"To hear your input." Lupus simply stated. Kai let out a frustrated hiss and turned away.

"Kai, I understand your worry, but understand as much as I fear for her safety as well, I can't let this last memory of my sister go just to be sold off to people we aren't even sure would be fit to care for her." Noire said, the snake Faunus softening his emotions slightly as she spoke.

"...If that isss what you think issss best then, Missss Secretary." Kai mumbled. "Sssso does thisss mean you will watch over her then?"

Noire nodded as she got up and looked over her niece. "I will, Blake...I promise I'll be the best caretaker you'd ever know."

Lupus gave a satisfied nod as he and Kai got up towards the door. "Then the decision is settled. We'll make arrangements for your sister's burial come morning." the elder master announced as he and Kai left the room. Outside in the hallway, as the two men left, a young boy, probably no older than seven with crimson hair and sad maroon eyes peaked into the room. Noire took notice of this as she gently picked Blake up from her crib.

"Adam...it's okay, child. You can come in."

The young boy slowly walked in, his eyes only looking between his dead mentor and her newborn child. Adam silently cried as Noire met him halfway and put an arm around him, drawing him into a hug.

"The pain of losing someone is a great burden, I know." Noire soothingly spoke to the boy softly as she looked at her sister's body, a solitary tear dripping down her face. "My sister was a great self-defense mentor to you, so I know you will stay strong for her sake, won't you?" He didn't answer verbally, but gave a nod. "That's good." she continued with a forced smile as a yawn from the newborn brought both of their attention back to Blake.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Adam asked.

"A girl. Her name is Blake." Noire answered, brushing some hair off her forehead lightly. "Would you like to hold her?"

Adam nodded and was carefully handed the bundle, where he took the small child, whose yellow eyes opened slightly enough for her first sight to be who would soon turn into an older-sibling figure to her. "Hi, Blake. I'm Adam. And once your old enough, I want to teach you everything Miss Midna, your mom, taught me. She'd want that for you, I know. And I promise I won't rest until your as good as she was. Count on it." he spoke, leaning his head down to kiss her forehead. Noire watched on with tears of joy now streaming down her face at the sight.

"Well said, Adam." she nodded, looking down at her niece. "Welcome to the White Fang Family, Blake Belladonna."

* * *

><p>"...He trained me, watched over me, acted as an older brother to me. Fighting him earlier was the hardest thing I've ever had to do..." Blake stopped typing there, tears dripping from her face as she dropped the tablet into her lap. "How...could he...?" she whimpered in a raspy voice before sobbing silently into Weiss's shoulder, who was now sitting on the bed with her. Mei looked on solemnly as she patted Blake on the shoulder.<p>

"I'm sorry you had to go through that Blake." Mei said.

"As am I.." Weiss trailed off, not sure what to say next. She just elected to hug her teammate and stay with her until she calmed down. Mei, sensing this was starting to turn into a moment that should only be spent between teammates, shone herself out to give the two some privacy. As she did, the white-haired girl finally found the words to convey.

"If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, Blake, I'm here for you."

* * *

><p><strong>Damn, I kinda ran long with this one... I had three different scenarios for how the scene in Blake's room would go, and each one was so good, I got writer's block trying to decide on which one XD. I'm just glad I picked one and got this chapter over with. I promise next time, things will brighten up a bit, and maybe a new surprise for Ruby will reveal itself?<strong>

**...Eh who knows? I'm basically winging every chapter.**

**Leave some feedback if you like it! See you next time!**


	5. 4: An Unfortunate Surprise

**Hey, guys, before we start, I just wanted to let you know that at the time the last chapter went up, this fic had already reached over 1000 views. I'm so grateful that people have really been taking interest in this fic, and can't thank you enough. Speaking of the last chapter, it may have been a little heavy on how dark Ruby's situation was, but I did warn about that. There's a reason this was rated M people. I apologize for the shock factor and seen your reaction notes and reviews, but don't worry. I'm not going to spoil anything major, but just know that Ruby will recover from this. She's still going to be the loveable hyper positive reaper we all know her as. How things will play out is something you'll have to read about to find out on your own. So let's get you started on that with this next chapter!**

* * *

><p>The airship touched down gracefully back on Beacon's helipad. Waiting to the side of it was Teams JNPR and SSSN, who were more that eager and concerned to learn what had become of their friends in Team RWBY. They hadn't seen much of them in nearly over a week, except for Weiss and Yang returning to fetch some items requested by their two injured teammates. The most on-edge had to be Sun. After hearing from Yang what had happened to Blake, he wanted to see her badly just so he could confirm she was alright, the mission his team was on running long preventing rom that happening sooner.<p>

"I hope they're alright. Yang informed us they were in pretty bad shape when they first got med-evaced." Pyrrah said.

"I think they'll be alright." Neptune grinned. "They're getting out after only a week. That should be a good sign, right Sun?" His teammate didn't answer, his eyes still nervously trained on the opening door of the ship. Out first stepped Ruby, in her alternate outfit since her usual one was too torn to wear again, a brace wrapped around her left leg over her clothes. She still wore what was left of her cloak, but now as a scarf. Blake walked out, her neck still bandaged and her right arm in a sling. Any other cuts or bruises were hidden under bandages underneath her clothes. Sun took off running towards them the moment they left the ship. While the rest of his team nonchalantly followed him at a leisurely pace, all of Team JNPR also ran towards the returning team.

"Blake!" called out Sun.

"Sun?" Blake looked up in surprise.

"Jaune?" Ruby asked herself as the team drew closer.

"Ruby!" Jaune smiled as he and his team went up to welcome back the team. Until...

"NORA!" the Valkyrie cheered as she somehow picked up all six of them in a massive bear hug.

"Nora...can't breathe...properly..." Jaune choked out, indicating for his teammate to let them go to prevent them from passing out due to lack of oxygen.

"Oops." Nora said as she let them all go, rubbing the back of her head in an embarrassed manner. "Sorry, got a little carried away."

"Wouldn't be the first time." Ren grumbled, cracking his back before turning to RWBY's recovering members. "How are you two feeling?" he asked.

"We've been better...but much more fine than a week ago." Ruby lightly smiled, holding her left arm awkwardly.

Some of the group's smiles faded slightly. Yang had already given the jist of what had happened to the two of them in those caverns, and they all could tell while Blake seemed okay, Ruby was far from fine after her experience. "Well that's a relief to hear you say that." Pyrrah said in a caring tone, putting a hand over the one Ruby used to hold her own arm. "Just know if you need anything, Team JNPR will be there for you."

"Same goes for me and the guys. Just say the word, and we 're there." Sun smirked , wrapping an arm around a blushing Blake who was very unsuccessfully trying to hide it.

"Well...unless we're busy or something..." Scarlet contrasted before a grunt and an elbow into the redhead's side from his green-haired counterpart. "Ow! Okay! What Sun said!"

Ruby let out a slight chuckle at the two bickering comrades in the exchange student team from Mistral. "Thanks everyone. That's very kind of all of you."

"Well, kindness is my middle name, ya know!" Nora said with her signature grin plastered on her face.

"It's actually Freyja." Ren announced.

"Well, now that we've gotten the welcome backs out of the way, shall we get back to the dorms?" Weiss asked, giving the hint that she really wanted to rest. The past ten days had taken their toll on the four girls. Even Yang seemed a little less energetic than she was even at half steam. Taking the hint, the two teams moved to the sides of the walkway as the team returning to Beacon after a grueling week and a half made their way back to the dorms.

* * *

><p>"I must say , Ozpin, we were very surprised to hear of this recent turn of events." The councilman spoke as the three of them communicated with the Beacon headmaster. "To even General Ironwood's knowledge, that White Fang base's existence was unbeknownst even to our scouting parties prior to yours."<p>

"With all due respect, you'll have to forgive me about being skeptical about your intelligence on the matter prior to our raid on it." Ozpin said with a stern tone in his voice.

"I assure you I speak the truth, Ozpin." The councilman retorted defensively. "More importantly, you and your students and fellow professor's actions helped damage a critical supply line for the White Fang. We're so impressed by the results, we've overlooked your lack of reporting this discovery to the general before attacking."

"You must understand we've had little other choice at the time. The circumstance was..." Ozpin started before being cut off.

"Yes, we are aware of what took place from your debriefing reports." The distinct sound of papers rustling came on the other end of the holo-transmission. "Our hopes of recovery go out to Miss...Rose was it? I assume she will be going into therapy for the trauma she endured?"

"Yes, we've scheduled Signal Academy's counselor to visit weekly for psychiatric sessions until further notice for Ruby. Although she's seeming to recover from her incident, we wouldn't want this to cause a mental disorder that could disrupt her field skills." Ozpin explained.

"Very good. We'll be in touch with you, Ozpin." the Councilman said as the screen blanked out, revealing the platinum blonde professor and his oldest friend , Glynda, staring at him, her arms crossed and crop in hand.

"What did he mean by supply lines?" Glynda asked. Ozpin had rarely seen the air of curiosity around the mage unless it was suspicion a student was up to no good.

"I caught that as well. I'm not sure, but it would explain how they've gotten their numbers into the kingdom undetected." Ozpin deducted, taking a sip from his coffee mug as he finished. "Give the news out to fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses out on recon. If they suspect anything involving White Fang activity , report it immediately."

Glynda nodded, and reached for a data pad before typing up a message to be posted for all Huntsmen to see.

"And what about the ones who escaped?" a voice asked out loud. The two Beacon professors turned to see Taiyang Xiao Long walking into the office, his uniform as a Signal Academy professor on, although it was simply a light jacket with the Signal elblem embroidered on the back. His attire underneath made him seem nothing like a counselor for a prestigious combat academy, but more of a stay-at-home father out on his porch for a smoke. Under his unzipped jacket was a buttoned mustard-collored shirt and simple pair of black jeans and sneakers.

"Taiyang! We weren't expecting you for another two days." Glynda said, surprised by their old friend.

"How much did you hear, old friend?" Ozpin asked as the father of RWBY's two sisters walked up to the desk.

"Enough to know what's going on. Have you also placed an APB on the individuals who did this to my daughter?" he asked. Taiyang spoke in a calm manner, but Ozpin could see the anger in his eyes.

"We're still figuring out who exactly was behind it. The interrogation of the luitenant we captured is still ongoing and he hasn't said much." Ozpin answered. Taiyang sighed and sat in a chair on the other side of the headmaster's desk. "Taiyang, I know it's hard seeing what has happened to your daughter, but I want you to know I give my sincerest apologies for letting it happen."

"It wasn't your fault, Ozpin. You had no control over what that bastard did to Ruby." Taiyang said, his fists balling up and clenching hard. It had been years since Ozpin had seen his old friend this furious, despite it being passive aggressive. "I won't get in the way and cause the investigation much more trouble, but once they capture whoever did this, pray he doesn't end up alone in a room with me."

"Taiyang..." Glynda started as she put a sympathetic hand on the father's shoulder, only for it to be shrugged off.

"Glynda, make sure one of the guest rooms is prepped for Taiyang's stay here." Ozpin ordered. "And no refusals either, old friend. I insist you stay close to your family. Ruby will need you more than ever now."

Taiyang gave a silent nod as he got up and left the office. Once they were sure he was gone, the mage turned to her superior. "I've never seen him control his anger that well in years." she spoke with amazement.

"Neither have I. Even after she left him..." Ozpin trailed off, thinking back to that moment almost twenty years ago when the Signal Academy teacher's first love abandoned him with their newborn child for unknown reasons. He stayed in a state of anger for months, never directed at the young Yang, but at himself, at her, at others... How he could keep his calm after what happened to his youngest surprised him. She was just a little girl, and to have to support her daughter with that kind of traumatic experience took so much restraint to not want to lash out immediately at whoever put her in that position. Ozpin pondered what the future would bring for that family as he stared out his window and across the courtyard below his tower, his sight fixated on the first-year student dorms.

* * *

><p>Night had fallen over Vale, and inside their dorm, the members of RWBY were fast asleep since hours ago. Even the hyperactive Corgi was balled up in his doggie bed at the foot of Yang and Blake's bunk. Across from them, Ruby tossed and turned in her sleep. It wasn't due to her having switched bunk positions with Weiss, due to her still being too sore from her injuries to climb to the top bunk. It wasn't some gnat or other insect flying around her and her subconscious trying to get away from it. No, the young reaper was stuck in a nightmare. She had been having them since the first night in the hospital, just the memory of him beating her, ripping the clothes off her body, and what came after that... It became too much for Ruby to continue remembering. Her mind woke herself up in a flash, and she sat upright in a flash, cold sweat and tears dripiping down her face. She looked for her surroundings. Not only was she still in her room, but all of RWBY was now looking at her with concern.<p>

"What's going on?" Weiss asked, looking down from her bunk. She wasn't used to sleeping up that high, but so far was able to manage.

Yang hopped down from her bunk and flicked on the lamp on the bookshelf as she walked across the room and sat down on Ruby's bed. "Another nightmare, huh ?"

"Mmhmm..." Ruby mumbled as she was pulled into a hug by her older half-sister. She had the same variation of the dream as the last night. Sometimes it was just a recurrence of that White Fang member's actions that day. Others was her trying to run away from him, and he would always be right behind her no matter how fast she was going, like it was out of an old horror movie. This particular one was her stuck in a cage, only to be approached by the very person who was the cause of her nightmares. The rest was too painful for her to remember before waking up.

They sat together for a few minutes in silence minus the whimpers from Ruby as she burried her head between Yang's shoulder and bosom. "Don't worry, little sis. I promise I won't let anything like that happen to you again." she said, lightly kissing her sister's forehead as she moved to go back to her bed.

"Yang?" the brunette called out just as the lamp was switched back off.

"Hm? What is it?" Yang replied as she turned back to her sister's bed.

"Would you mind sleeping with me for the night?" Ruby asked.

Not even answering, Yang gave a sympathetic smile as she sat back down on the lower bunk and got into bed with her sister. It had been quite a long time since they last slept in the same bed together, the only other time Yang could remember was a few nights after Summer passed away and Ruby was extremely upset for her loss.

As she pulled the covers over them, a familiar pitter-patter of paws on the hardwood floor came up to the bed. Yang looked down to see her faithful pet, Zwei, looking up worriedly. "It's okay, big guy. You can join us too." she sighed as the corgi hopped up and nuzzled into a comfy position between the two sisters. Blake gave a silent nod and a smile to her teammate for being a good big sister and turned back over to go back to sleep.

With a blink, Yang suddenly realized she had fallen asleep rather quickly because the instance her eyes were closed, it became morning. She looked to her right to find Ruby sleeping peacefully , hugging her sister 's arm with a light smile on her sleeping face. Zwei was now at the foot of the bed on his back, drool escaping from the mouth of the dog as he was still stuck in Dreamland. She chuckled and lightly nudged him awake with her foot as she carefully unpried Ruby off of her arm.

"C'mon, Zwei. I'll get ready, and then we'll go out for a walk." she promised as she headed to the bathroom to shower and change. By the time she was ready, Blake had just started waking up and Weiss gave a mumbled "Good morning." as the half-asleep duelist took her occupancy in the team's private bathroom. Throwing the leash on Zwei, she lead the Corgi downstairs to the courtyard where he did his morning business where Yang trained him to do so: behind the flowerbeds against the dorm building. It was accepted by the groundskeepers due to it acting as natural fertilizer, and was much better than having to scoop droppings off the walkways or freshly cut grass on the open air practice fields. As soon as they were done, Yang led Zwei back up to their room where they came to the sight of Ruby suddenly rushing into the bathroom, which still happened to be occupied by Weiss.

"GAH! RUBY, I'M STILL USING-Oh Dust, at least hold it until I get off the toilet!" was all she could hear as she let her pet off his leash. She exchanged glances of confusion and concern with Blake, who had gotten off her bed to see what the matter was.

"Ruby? Weiss?" Yang called into the restroom. The only answer she received was the sounds of violent retching and the all too familiar sound of something splashing into the toilet bowl. Upon peaking in, she found her sister hunched over the porcelain throne, head first in the bowl with Weiss, still in her nightgown, leaning over her and gently rubbing her back. The white-haired member of the team looked over to Yang and Blake as she heard the door creak from them looking inside.

"She just burst into here and started throwing up." Weiss said, slightly jarred from her morning routine being so suddenly interrupted. Another bout of retching passed before Ruby sat back up against the wall across from the toilet.

"What...was that about?" Blake asked , her voice still hoarse despite the healing it had already gone through.

"Dunno...Must've been something I ate yesterday before we left the hospital." Ruby assumed as she wiped her mouth from some leftover saliva.

"And that's why I never trusted hospital eggs and fakeon." Yang sighed as she looked back over to her sister. "You think you're done, Rubes?"

"Yeah..the worst is over I think." Ruby nodded. How wrong she was without knowing it.

* * *

><p>The same routine took place over the next couple of days. Yang would wake up first, take Zwei for his walk, then return to find her sister with her head back in the toilet bowl. She would always blame it on "too much junk food the night before" or "probably something in Ren's pancakes". Both of those things she knew were lies. Ruby hasn't been eating as much as usual since returning to Beacon, and if something contaminated Ren's pancakes which he prepared for all of RWBY, JNPR, as SSSN, everyone else would be blowing chunks. Of course, the team would always assume that as well, but they still had their suspicions. It wasn't until a few days later the older sister's fears were confirmed.<p>

The day started off as normal as it had been the past previous days. RWBY had been the last to arrive at their Wednesday morning sparring class with Professor Goodwich. While most seats had been taken, they were lucky enough to find some open ones behind the two Mistral exchange students, Emerald and Mercury.

"Heya, guys!" Yang smiled cheerfully as the two turned to see the new arrivals to class.

"Oh, you girls are going back into combat training already?" Mercury asked, particularly looking at the few bandages left present on Ruby and Blake.

"Our auras healed most of the major injuries already, but there's still a few left." Ruby answered the kickboxer's question. "We're practically back at a hundred percent!"

"Well, it's good to hear that." Emerald said, giving a light smile that had an air around it that made it seem false.

"We should probably tell you we heard about what happened if you haven't already guessed." Mercury told them.

"Thanks for the concern, but we'll be alright eventually." Blake whispered.

"How did you hear about it though?" Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The whole school's been talking about the raid and how two members of your team were badly hurt on it." Emerald lied quite convincingly. Cinder had told her about the fall of the southern supply staging area, but it was her luck that what happened to the two students had been made the topic of private discussion between classmates.

"How do they even-" Weiss never got to finish as the bell rang, followed by Professor Goodwich quickly walking in.

"Forgive my tardiness, class. Let's begin." She announced as she began to explain what the focus of today's sparring class would be on: Combat with Weaponry of the Same Class. The sessions today would involve students that used similar weapons to practice against each other. For example, Pyrrah and Turk, who both used spear-like weapons and shields, were pitted against each other. The Spartan warrior made quick work of her trident-using opponent. The next to fight were Emerald and Ren, the thief's use of her sickled revolvers making quick work of Ren and his automag pistols. After them came a fight between Yang and Fox. While the battle ran long due to the boxers' evenly matched skills, Yang ended up with the upper hand, quickly defeating the blind gauntlet-user with a well timed uppercut that accidently knocked him out.

As Velvet and Coco helped their unconscious teammate to the infirmary, Professor Goodwich looked over her class to decide the next. Seeing only a couple students that would fit together well, she hesitated to pair them together without checking if it would be alright with one of them to enter the arena.

"Miss Rose." She asked, turning to the young brunette she met on that night before the year started. "Are you cleared for combat, even if it's just sparring?"

"I should be fine, Professor." Ruby smiled, before looking over to her team. They smiled back, but there seemed to be a hint of concern in their faces, especially from her older sister.

"Very well. Mister Lark, you and Miss Rose will be our last sparring session for today." Professor Goodwich announced as she turned to the blue-haired halberdier of Team CRDL. Both students got up after receiving wishes of good luck from their respective teammates as the descended into the lockers on either side of the arena.

A few minutes passed before Sky entered the arena, decked out in his bulky armor and halberd. A few more passed and still no sign of Ruby. While the class grew restless and began chatting among each other to pass the time and the platinum blonde professor grew impatient, the rest of the missing brunette's team grew anxious.

"What's taking her? Ruby would be out here a lot quicker than anybody who wears that much armor on Team CRDL." Weiss wondered aloud.

"I'm gonna go check on her, see if everything's alright." Yang said as she headed towards the lockers. Glynda, who seemed to be ready to do the same, nodded to the blonde brawler as she passed her.

Inside the girls' locker room, Yang entered to find the room empty, Ruby's school uniform and Crescent Rose sitting in an open locker and abandoned. "Ruby?" Yang called out. A gurgling groan came as a reply from farther back in the locker room, back where there were a few bathroom stalls and showers. Quickly walking back there, she found her sister in a familiar position as the past few mornings: hunched over the toilet bowl, which was full at this point.

"Oh...hey, Yang." Ruby groaned as she turned to her sister.

"Okay, Rubes. This is getting out of hand. What's got you barfing this much?" Yang asked her younger sister. "And no lies to keep us from not worrying. I'm sick of them...pun not intended."

Seeing there was no way out of it, Ruby sighed as her eyes began to water. "I honestly don't know...It just started last week, and I don't know what's causing it! I just start cramping up in my stomach and it happens!" she answered, before suddenly turning as a round of gagging started.

Yang thought over what it could be. If Ruby wasn't sure either, it might be an unreported bug going around that nobody else caught yet. They had already ruled out food poisoning since nobody else was throwing up. What else could it-

"Ruby...I think I might know."

The two turned to see their professor looking down on them with the same level of concern as the elder sister.

"What is it, Professor?" Yang asked. Instead of getting an answer, the mage pulled her aside. Once they were away from earshot, she spoke again.

"Yang, for what I'm about to ask you, no matter what the answer is, I need you to stay strong. Not for your sake, but your sister's as well. The outcome of what I'm going to have her do is going to depend wether she needs you more to help her through this or not. Do you understand?" the professor spoke in a serious tone, more so in a worried manner than a strict one. Receiving a nod in response, she sighed before taking her crop and creating a purple glyph out of midair. Looking inside of it, Yang could see it was a miniature portal that led to what looked like a bathroom cabinet. Inside seemed various pill bottles, a toothbrush, and a box with the image of a plastic wand on it. Her heart sank at the thought of what the professor was insinuating before they widened at what she asked next. She already knew the answer, and it was no. It should've happened by now.

"Are you aware if Ruby's...time...has come around yet?"

* * *

><p>Back outside the locker room doors, Weiss and Blake waited anxiously. It had been a couple minutes since Glynda had dismissed the class and went into the lockers after Yang to check on Ruby, nobody to exit yet.<p>

"This waiting is getting unbearable! I need to know what happened to Ruby in there!" Weiss impatiently groaned as she paced around the doors outside.

"Professor Goodwich said we shouldn't unless either she or Yang says it's okay." Blake reminded her.

That was ten minutes ago, Blake!" Weiss snapped. "It's been long enough!" She went for the door, only for it to be opened on the other side by a solemn faced Professor Goodwich.

"Professor?" Blake asked.

"Girls, before you enter, I feel you should know about what's going on." The platinum blonde started. Relaxing enough to listen, Weiss folded her arms to listen what their teacher had to say. "Ruby is in a very delicate state right now, and is going to need your full support from here on out."

"We know what happened to her at the caves, Professor." Blake said, solemnly.

"You only know half of what we know now." Glynda corrected the Faunus girl.

"What are you talking about? What does Ruby being stuck in the lockers have to do with that?" Weiss snapped again.

"She was having another bout of nausea brought on by abdominal cramps. I've seen those side effects before, and in Ruby's case, the can only point to one thing." The Professor explained.

"Again, what does that have to do with..." The heiress trailed off as her eyes widened in disbelief she came to a sudden realization of what Glynda was saying.

"You can't be serious... They-" Blake stammered, unable to believe what the Huntress was insinuating.

Back in the locker rooms, the two sisters were locked in an embrace on the bathroom floor. Ruby was sobbing uncontrollably, unable to cope with the news she had just received about her condition. Yang was struggling to hold her composure and could only stare idly at the wand with a plus sign on it on the sink counter as she tried to calm her sister down.

"Whoever did this didn't just rob Ruby of her innocence. They left something behind as well."

* * *

><p><strong>And that's another chapter down! Sorry for anyone who's been waiting patiently for it, but now that Finals are over, I should have more time to work on this fic! As for what has just been revealed, I promise this is as bad as it's going to get. From here on out, it's straight up coping, healing, and vengeance on the White Fang asshole who did this in the first place! :) All of that is coming one at a time, but this next chapter should be a turn for the better in Ruby's case. Stay tuned for it! It should be up before Christmas if I can get it done by then. If not, have a happy holidays, everyone!<strong>


	6. 5: The Defector

**Hey guys, just wanted to give you a quick thank you for making this fic so popular. Ive never gotten this much attention for anything Ive written for any fandom under any screen name and couldnt be happier with the comments, suggestions and constructive criticism I've been getting. As I start to type this chapter on 12/23/14, the views are just under 2800. Lets see if we can shoot for 4k by the time chapter 6 comes out, eh? **

**Also, if anyone watching here is an artist of any sort, I'd like to find someone willing to do a commission (paypal or Deviantart points, will only give my name to those who are interested in that option) or for free if you like them enough, of either a cover for the fic, some sketches of Team STRM, or both if I'm lucky to find sonebody willing to do so. Referals to artistic friends are also accepted.**

**Ok, Ive kept you busy long enough. On with the fic!**

* * *

><p>Taiyang took deep breaths as Yang spoke to him. He had tuned out her voice due to shock long after she burst into his guest dorm and told him about Ruby. The elaboration was the last thing on his mind. Not only was his youngest beaten and stripped of her virginity, but now she was pregnant? It was almost too much for him to comprehend. This was one of the multitude of things he was afraid of when his girls told him about their dreams to become huntresses just like their mother. Just like Summer. Just like her.<p>

"Dad! Please, say something! I don't know what to do!" Yang's cry brought him out of his thoughts. She was getting ready to tear up again out of fear, frustration, confusion, and a multitude of other feelings she couldn't decide on.

"Yang, please. Calm down." Taiyang finally said, elliciting a scoff fron his oldest daughter.

"Stay calm! How can I do that?! Ruby is counting on us to help her through this, and I dont even know where to start!" She was nearly screaming now, her watering eyes turning red, and there was a hint of smoking hardwood flooring coming from below her.

"I know, but if you don't, you're going to burn down the dormitory!" her father exclaimed. That did enough to bring Yang to a calmer level to have her reddened eyes revert to their lilac hue. She hugged him before sniffling into his chest.

"She's just a young girl, Dad...Why would someone want her to go through this?" Yang asked, tears running down her face.

Taiyang took a moment to think of the right words. "Sometimes, people just are born in terrible enviroments that have them growing up being treated badly or learning questionable things. Those people suffer for it in horrible ways. Taking their hate or pain out on others, jailtime, going insane under the weight of it all, it's the only way they know how to cope. Those are the ones beyond help we try our hardest to stay away from. Ruby unfortunately found herself captured by those kind of people."

Yang looked up. "So what should we do?" she asked, wiping the tears from her face.

"The only thing we can do, Yang. Be there for her." He replied."Comfort her when she needs it, help her through this, care for her and the baby."

"Why are you saying it like she's going to keep it?" Yang asked, breaking off their hug.

Taiyang raised an eyebrow. "Is she not?"

The blonde girl shook her head. "She only just found out, and doesnt know what to do. Weiss is saying abort it, Blake says give it up for adoption, and I just want her to make the right choice! This is just getting too crazy for her, and I don't know if she can take much more!"

"Why would your teammate want her to abort it?" Taiyang asked. He had always found the thought of ending an unborn child's life before it started insane.

"She thinks the kid would just end up like his father, born bad and copying his actions once he's old enough." Yang explained.

"That's where she's wrong." Taiyang started. "What did I just explain? Nobody is born bad. It's the enviroment they're raised in; not by their heritage. If Ruby or a loving foster family were to raise this child, do you think it would turn out like the man who raped her?"

Yang thought it over. "No, I believe not." she replied.

"Exactly." he nodded before looking at the clock on the wall. "Could you ask your sister to meet me by the counseling office? Our first psychiatrics session should start soon."

"Yang nodded before hugging her father. "Thanks Dad." she whispered before leaving to return to the dorms. What her dad told her had her thinking. Ruby or a foster family could be a positive influence on the baby. In a way, he was right about how nobody is born bad, but what if they were and wanted to change? That hypothetical wasn't relevant now. She knew Ruby needed her, and as her older sister, she had a duty to be there for her sake.

Bumping into somebody as she exited the guest dorms snapped her away from her thoughts. Coming back to reality, she found a pink parasol dropped at her feet and a short girl on the ground next to it. "Oh, sorry! I wasnt watching where I was...Wait a minute." Yang started to apologize before taking sudden realization at whom she colided with. All too familiar features from her height, which pegged her as even shorter than her diminutive little sister, the multicolored hair and heterochromatic eyes, and of course, the dropped parasol that came very close to being her murder weapon not too long ago.

"What are you doing here!?" Yang snapped as she activated Ember Cilica and entered a fighting stance, glaring Neo down the whole time.

Silently, Neo got up and dusted herself off, her face stoic and emotionless as she reached to her coat's inner pocket and produced an unmarked letter envelope to the brawler, who snatched it from her in an instant.

"What is this?" Yang asked. Neo rolled her eyes and with a snap of her fingers, gestured for Yang to take a second look at the envelope, that now had writing on it.

"We need to talk about your sister. I know who did this to her."

* * *

><p>In a hidden location somewhere in the southern quadrant of the city of Vale, there is an abandoned marine industrial park that was replaced by the docks used by cargo and cruise ships today. It hadn't seen operation in years. That is, until the White Fang moved in to call the place home. It was a perfect location for a hideout strategically. A large open land around it for plenty of routes of escape, the wide open bay behind it for transportation by air or boat, and with the help of Roman's informanits bribing officials, unmonitored by the Vale Police Department. It was here that a certain mute madwoman strolled absentmindedly through a warehouse full of Paladin mechs lifting cargo and Faunus in White Fang uniforms walking about doing their jobs or simply taking some time to rest. Neo eyed them, searching for something interesting to eavesdrop on while she walked about. Coming across a couple of Faunus talking with that interrogator from the hideout. Sneaking through a nearby group, confused by the diminutive assassin's behavior, she came to hiding herself behind a stack of crates loaded with ammo, which her target entertainment was leaning up against. She gave a mischevious grin as she began listening into their conversation. Hopefully it was some juicy information she could use as blackmail or her own brand of twisted humor. Instead, she was barely prepared to expect the real topic.<p>

"But what if she just rejects me?" a smaller of the White Fang members asked. "She'll probably never go for a scrawny ox-Faunus like me." he complained, flicking his horn habitually.

"A love interest? How cute!" Neo thought to herself as she listened in more closely.

"So what?" the interrogator scoffed. "The way I see it, a girl who doesn't want you just doesn't realize it yet. That's why you got to force her to do it."

"But, isn't that kind of thing illegal?" The ox Faunus asked.

"You're a member of an organization dedicated to Faunus civil rights that's viewed as a terrorist organization and you're worried about breaking the law?"

"N-no! I just...It doesn't seem right to me."

"Sounds like a you thing. All I know is it works for me. Back before we lost the old hideout down south, I had some 'fun' with this Huntress we caught." The interrogator retold.

Neo was appaled by the idea he was preaching about. But who was he talking about? They never captured a Huntress before the southern hideout got discovered, the only tresspasser they captured was...that girl from Beacon. Neo internally gasped as she realized what he meant. He had his way with that teenager they captured, an action she did not approve of in the slightest. She had to let somebody know.

Sneaking off from behind the crates, she went off to find one of the higher ups. It was easier when Roman was still around to report to. Since he was in the custody of that bitter old Atlesian general, she'd had to bring any intel she received to either of those insufferable younger members, Mercury and Emerald, or to Cinder herself. The air around her whenever she was around even made the mute sadist feel uncomfortable. The only new ally she seemed to not mind 'talking to' was Adam, but ever since they escaped the hideout, he seemed more distant than usual, and she don't believe it was because he lost half of his signature weapon.

"Neo? Is everything alright?"

That hauntingly attractive voice brought her out of her thoughts to turn to the brunette with bright yellow eyes standing in front of her.

"You seem tense." Cinder noted. "What's got you like this?"

Without a word, Neo took Cinder by the hand and practically dragged her into the warehouse office, the only unoccupied and private room in the building at the moment. Locking the door behind her, she then turned back to Cinder, standing before her now even more confused by the mute's newfound behavior.

"Something tells me this is serious." Cinder mused, putting a hand to her hip.

"You have no idea." Neo 'spoke'. Cinder took note that in the blink of an eye, Neo had suddenly formed a large patch of scar tissue on the front of her neck, an artificial voicebox made out of the curve in her parasol handle held up to her throat, no doubt hidden thanks to her illusionary abilities.

"I'm all ears." Cinder said as she sat down in an office chair, facing Neo.

"You heard how we captured a Huntress back at the southern outpost before it fell? Turns out she was still a Huntress in training. A young girl." Neo explained before spitting out the next words in disgust. "Timber raped her before she was reclaimed."

Cinder didn't even seem to flinch at the last part of her statement. "And?" she asked.

Neo's eyes widened in shock, both irises turning white in a blink. "Wha-Is that it? And? Aren't we going to do something about him?" Neo fussed, taken aback by the lack of her commanding figure's concern.

"Neo, I can tell this is something that greatly upsets you, but Timber has since became a valuable asset since we partnered with the White Fang, despite his...less desirable traits." Cinder explained. "Thanks to his information, the next phase of my plan can be set into motion."

Neo screamed internally. She expected Cinder to at the very least discipline the bastard, but refusing to even lift a finger towards someone beneath her position appalled her. "So we're going to just let him get away with it?" Neo exclaimed.

"I see it as no different to letting you and Mercury get away with your assassinations, or Emerald with her thieving skills." Cinder counterpointed. "You don't need to explain why you're so against it. I can already tell why." she continued, getting up and placing a hand on the shoulder of her diminutive crony, only for it to be shrugged off. With a sigh, she made for the door. "Just go get some fresh air, clear your head." she suggested as she left Neo in the office alone.

As the door closed, Neo let out a silent scream of frustration as she threw her voicebox to the floor. Not even the head of the operation would do anything about the fact someone in her organization raped a child and got away with it.

"That was appauling." another voice echoed out deeper in the office. Neo looked up to see Adam walking out from behind a divider farther back in the room, behind where Cinder had been sitting a minute ago. A raised eyebrow was given as a response. "I heard all of it. What Timber did to that girl was inexcusable."

Neo's eyes glimmered with hope that Adam actually could do something. She grabbed her voicebox off the floor and looked back up at the Faunus. "Can you do anything about it?" she asked.

Adam thought it over for a second. "Nothing directly, but there is something you can do." he offered, grabbing an envelope, piece of paper and a pencil on a nearby desk. After a few minutes of silent writing, he folded it into the envelope and handed it to the assassin. "Take this to Beacon, and make sure the girl or someone on her team gets it first."

She took the envelope from the masked man's hand, then reattatched her voicebox to her parasol handle, giving a silent nod to say thanks to him.

"No need. Just go before someone gets suspicious." Adam encouraged, as Neo bowed in front of him. Confused, he reached out to poke the girl, only for a glass substitute to shatter at his touch. He then left the room, to find Cinder talking on her scroll.

"And you're positive she is?" Cinder asked to the person on the other end of the line. "Hmmm...This could be useful to us. Keep me updated, Emerald." She then ended her call and turned to the swordmaster. "Ah, Adam. May I ask something personal?"

"What do you need to know?" he asked the succubus.

"You once said your former partner was born into the White Fang and proved to be a great asset to the cause, correct?" she asked, giving a signature smirk.

* * *

><p>That was only a couple hours ago. Neo now sat at a desk in an interrogation room along with Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ozpin, and Taiyang. The letter in Ozpin's hand as he read it aloud explained everything Neo had witnessed just earlier at the White Fang hideout, as well as some information on other hideouts and known plans ready to be set into motion.<p>

"And you know this for certain?" Ozpin asked, taking a sip from his mug of coffee. Neo nodded furiously, greatly pleased they took interest in her information.

"Why are we even believing her? She could be leading us straight into a trap for all we know." Weiss argued.

"...I believe her." Ruby spoke up, looking at the mute with eyes reddened from her constant crying from earlier.

"Same here." Blake agreed looking at the note, which she recognized as Adam's handwriting. "This letter proves she didn't make her reason for being here up."

"They're the ones who captured you in the first place, and got you into this mess!" Weiss snapped.

"Weiss, people can change." Taiyang spoke up. "Not everyone is a lost cause as soon as they start following the wrong paths in life."

The heiress turned away, still unsure of the true intentions of Neo. "I have to know though: After all you've done to aid Torchwick and the White Fang, why come forward to us about this?"

Neo broke off the voicebox from her parasol's grip and pressed it to her throat, most eyes in the room widening as the jagged scar on her neck formed by their very eyes. She looked to Ruby with empathetic eyes. "Because I was in the same boat as her when I was younger." she explained. "I was the product of my mother being sexually assaulted. She didn't just keep me afterwards; she raised me and protected me from the dangerous neighborhood we lived in growing up. But it didn't last. A gang broke in to our house one night. They...had their way with us and slit my mother's throat, left her for dead. I tried to get out and get help, but they caught me and stabbed me in my throat. If it wasn't for a passing stranger who saved me, I'd be dead now." she explained. She remembered the night well. Just before she began to let go as the shank still lodged in her neck ebbed away at her life, the sound of a cane cracking bones and beating against flesh brought her attention to a man in a white coat and bowler hat beating away at her attackers. Once he was done, he looked over at the injured girl in front of him. "Let's get you some help, kid." Roman said quietly as he picked her up. She passed out after that, but never forgot the kindness Roman gave her, despite his criminal personality.

She snapped out of her flashback and looked back to Ruby, placing her free hand on the reaper's shoulder. "Don't let this bring you down. Stay strong and keep fighting, and you'll get through this. It worked for me." Neo finished with a genuine smile, earning a slight grin from Ruby in return.

"I'm afraid Miss Rose won't be doing any fighting for quite some time, Neo." Ozpin sighed, placing his mug on the table. "Glynda informed me about your condition, Ruby. For the safety of you and your child, I have to take you out of all combat training and missions effective immediately."

Neo looked over at the brunette, who's grin turned back to a frown, her eyes glistening with disappointment.

"I had no idea..." Neo gasped.

"I only just found out earlier." Ruby said quietly, an empathetic hand from her sister placed on her other shoulder.

Neo gave it sone quick thought. What she had done so far made her a traitor. She gave away information about the current whereabouts of the next major hideout the bulk of the White Fang's leaders were at right now. Roman wasn't around to talk her out of it. What left did she have to lose? "What would you have me do then, Professor?"

"I beg your pardon?" Ozpin asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I'm probably already on the shit list for coming here. They have eyes here at Beacon. I can't take back what I've already done to you all..." she trailed off, looking at RWBY in particular, thinking back to her fight on the train with Yang and how she subdued Ruby not even a month ago which lead to her current predicament. "...but I'm willing to make up for it however I can."

Eyes from the Beacon students and two adult males in the room shifted to one another, giving silent conversations of confirmation or skepticism.

"...You say they have eyes here at Beacon?" Ozpin asked, both fulfilling her request to defect to their side, and intrigued about how spies made it into Beacon unnoticed by even the most skilled Huntsmen and Huntresses in the school faculty.

Neo let a sigh of relief while mixed feelings spread throughout the rest of the group. Ruby and Taiyang were relieved and grateful to have someone else on their side to try and bring whoever did this to her to justice. Blake seemed satisfied and listened on intently. Weiss and Yang exchanged looks of concern. Both of them were still unsure of the petite mute that came forward, especially from old encounters.

"Here's what I can guve you right now." Neo began.

* * *

><p>On a low roof outside Ozpin's office, unbeknowst to anyone else, two figures had their eyes trained on the window, one bringing a pair of binoculars down from her bright red eyes. "What in Monty's name does she think she's doing?" Emerald sneered as she tried to wrap her head around why Neo would show up to Beacon on her own accord.<p>

"What do you think? She's obviously ratting us out!" Mercury stated, grabbing his scroll and dialing Cinder's number.

"Well this is going to muck up the plan a bit. What do we do?" the thief asked nobody in particular. When their leader was around, coming up woth a counter move then and there was much easier.

"The only thing we can do." Mercury said as he and the pistol-wielding girl started heading for the nearest helipad, his phone still ringing before a voice picked up. "Hey. We have a problem, and it's short, mute, and just blew our cover."

* * *

><p><strong>Aaaand finally got this one done! I wanted to get it out by New Years but getting sidetracked on other things and working more often than I have in weeks are putting a damper on my chances to work on this fic. As an apology for all of you who Ive kept waiting, I'm starting work on the next chapter as soon as this one is submitted. And quick spoiler: things are picking back up again. Be prepared for some more action coming to your screens soon!<strong>


	7. 6: Escape from Beacon

**Hey guys. Hope you liked the last chapter, and what I did with Neo. I dont like the idea that she's completely mute, so I got an idea to model her after Sawyer the Cleaner from Black** **Lagoon. Both mute on the job, both psychopathic, it seems like a nice fit for a crossover (hint hint, fellow writers). So...yeah I ran out of things to say before we get into this so I'm done. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"Here's what I can give you right now." Neo began as she brought up her scroll. A picture of a certain orange-eyed brunette in a red cocktail dress was brought up in front of everyone's eyes.<p>

"Hey, I recognize her..." Ruby said, remembering the time she met her along with Mercury and Emerald outside their dorm room.

"Yeah, isn't she one of the visiting students from Haven?" Weiss asked.

"She's actually Cinder Fall." Taiyang corrected the heiress.

"You know her?" Neo asked, unaware that anyone would know her by her real name.

"She could've been one of the greatest students to ever graduate from Signal years ago, back before Summer was..." He trailed off for a moment, a glimmer of sadness passing over his eyes. "Anyway, her father was taken in for inhumane experimentation on minors."

"Wait, I know about this!" Weiss spoke up. "Dr. Fall was one of my father's top R and D researchers back at the Schnee Dust Company. He was discovered to be trying to infuse dust into human test subjects...his ow daughters."

"Very good memory, Miss Schnee." Taiyang noted. "Cinder and her sisters were split up by the foster child department. She ended up in a home in Vale where she ended up in Signal Academy. She could've been one of our top students, but she was always so rough with the other students, both in and out of combat training. The one time she crippled two students in Qrow's class was the last straw, and she was expelled then and there. The next day she burned down her foster home with her adopted parents inside and fled town, never heard from again."

"Well it seems she's become quite the crime mogul since then." Ozpin remarked. "Now, you said she had others in her inner circle, Neo?"

"Other than Torchwick and I, there were four others. Two of them are here at Beacon acting as spies: Emerald Sustrani and Mercury Black." Neo continued onward.

"They're working for Cinder?" Yang raised her voice in surprise. They seemed somewhat suspicious their first meeting and that one sparring class in which Mercury challenged Pyrrah, but she never pegged them as criminals.

"I'll have security watch out for them and apprehend them if necessary." Ozpin said, sending a quick message to Beacon's security guard captain. "Who else is in their company?"

"When Cinder struck a deal with the White Fang, they sent three of their top field members to oversee what we were doing. You captured one at the southern staging area." Nep explained, referring to the luitenent wielding a chainsaw sword. "Another is-"

"Adam Taurus." Blake interrupted, looking back at the note. "The greatesr field agent they have and my old partner."

"He was the one we faced at the southern caverns, right? With the mask and samurai sword?" Yang asked.

"The one that slit your throat?" Weiss questioned.

"He didn't mean to! We were like brother and sister growing up in the White Fang. He couldnt hurt me on purpose even if he tried!" Blake defended him.

"Weiss, we'll deal with that later." Yang said before the arguement escalated. "Neo, you still haven't given the reason you're here for. Who was it who raped my sister?" She narrowed her eyes, glowing red suddenly, as she said this.

"Yang, please..." Ruby spoke up, trying to calm her sister down befode another rampage started. "She was getting to it, right?"

Neo nodded and pulled up an image of a young Faunus male, around his mid twenties. He had brown shaggy hair with two dog ears on the top of his head, uncovered by his hood the moment this image was taken. His chin borr a thin beard, and the toothy grin on his face showed a sharp pair of teeth. His mask, bearing a wolf's skull marking on it was palmed in his hand.

"Timber Lupus. From what I heard, he was the son of the White Fang's former leader, and acted as a source of intel for the group. He also doubled as an interrogator." She explained.

Ruby shuddered in her seat as she stared at the picture with a thousand-yard stare. The eyes, the mask, both seemed all too familiar. There was no denying this was the man who did this to her. Once she broke herself out of the trance, she made her way for the door.

"Ruby?" Taiyang watched her leave, before looking back to the others. Ozpin motioned for him to go after her, which he did. As he left, the conversation picked back up.

"So, Neo, where can we find them all?" Ozpin asked.

"Yeah. I want to have a little fun with Timber before he skips town of you know what I mean." Yang growled as she cracked her knuckles.

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to accompany us in this investigation, girls." Ozpin leaned forward.

"Excuse me?" Yang yelled, her eyes glowing red once more.

"The night at the docks and your mission to Mountain Glenn was one thing. If these individuals are as dangerous as we believe they are, it's much to dangerous for students to apprehend them alone." Ozpin said as he reached for his Scroll, ignoring Yang's extremely explicit retort as it took the remaining three girls around her to hold her back. "Glynda," he spoke after dialing her number. "I need you to contact General Ironwood immediately with the following information..."

"_Ozpin, I'm a little busy at the moment dealing with two Haven students attacking our security guards!" _The other end of the line blared at him.

"What? Where are you?" Ozpin said, getting up from his desk and looking out the massive window behind him. Down below, he already found Mercury and Emerald two courtyards away in combat with Glynda and the security detail on loan from the Atlesian military. Before he could even speak, the sound of the door being slammed shut and three girls missing from the room, Neo looking between him and the door with a confused look on her face.

"You should follow them too." Ozpin sighed as Neo gave a nod and walked calmly but briskly towards the elevators outside the office.

* * *

><p>Back in the foyer of Ozpin's tower, Ruby sat on a couch near the enterance, her legs tucked up into an upright fetal position as she stared at a certain point in the floor before her. The sound of footsteps brought her attention to the elevators on the opposite side of the room.<p>

"I was wondering where you ran off to." Taiyang spoke as he walked up to her, sitting down next to his youngest daughter. "I assume Timber was the one." He didn't get an answer verbally, but a nod instead. There was a while of silence before she finally spoke.

"What am I going to do, Dad?" Ruby asked, receiving a raised eyebrow in response. "I can't just get rid of this baby, but I have no idea how I'm going to raise it." she made note, her eyes glimmering with tears of frustrated confusion.

Taiyang shook his head. "That's not a decision I can make for you, Ruby."

"Then what should I do?" Ruby sighed, nearly on the verge of tears.

The older blonde man put an arm around his daughter, drawing her into a hug. "I know these past few weeks have been difficult for you, but know the answers to your questions don't come all at once. I know the time will come when you decide what to do."

"But what if I make the wrong decision? Like if I put it up for adoption and it ends up in a terrible place to raise a child?" she asked.

"You never know until you try. I've never known you to make a wrong decision though, wether it was dying your hair red or taking after your uncle and building Crescent Rose." he replied.

Ruby pondered this for a moment, but before she could give her answer, the sound of gunshots and explosions started ringing from outside, and the familiar ding of an elevator bell sounded. From the same elevator Taiyang exited from a few minutes prior, Weiss, Blake, Yang and Neo came running towards the door.

"What's going on?" Taiyang asked, he and Ruby standing up from the couch.

"Mercury and Emerald are trying to escape!" Weiss informed them as the two as they continued outside, the sound of gun fire growing louder as the doors opened and the six individuals ran out.

* * *

><p>"Gah!" Velvet yelped as she was knocked back by an elbow from Mercury, only to be replaced by Fox as he unleashed a flurry of blows towards the kickboxer, each strike narrowly dodged. He almost was unaware he was being backed into the towering figure of Yatsuhashi until the sound of the man grunting as he hefted his large sword to strike down on the spy. He spun out of the way as the blade was brought down, leaving a large crack in the walkway they stood upon in its wake. In order to put some distance between him and the upperclassmen, Mercury launched himself off the golden blade using his gun greaves to propel himself.<p>

"Where did these guys even come from?" he thought to himself. His thoughts were interrupted as a certain platinum blonde teacher whipped a nearby bench at him, ducking out of the way as Emerald jumped in his place and cut it in half with her sickles.

RWBY, Taiyang and Neo ran up to the scene to find security guards covering the ground before them, some covered in their own blood.

"Ruby, Blake, start helping these men!" Taiyang ordered as the two started helping escort the lesser injured to a safer place before help for them arrived. "The rest of you, you're with me!" Reaching into his coat pockets, he produced a set of brass knuckles. Knocking his fists together, two dragon's heads formed from pure aura energy over his hands. One could take notice his eyes also began glowing red, similar to Yang's semblance, a trait the father and daughter shared. The rest also prepared for battle, Weiss drawing Myrtenaster, Yang activating Ember Cilica, and Neo readying her parasol for battle. The group then jumped in to assist CFVY and Professor Goodwich, hoping the now nine Huntsmen and Huntresses would help sure up the numbers.

"Great. More of them!" Mercury complained.

"Just quit complaining! Our backup's here!" Emerald snapped as two dropships flew overhead, dropping White Fang initiates armed with a full armory of weapons. Before one could escape, Coco and Weiss were able to bring it down, the upperclassman pummeling the aircraft with machine gun fire and Weiss using her ice glyphs to pierce one of its engines with a giant icicle.

Back on the ground, Neo and Yang had come across Mercury.

"You're gonna pay for ratting us out, bitch!" Mercury growled as he directed a kick towards the mute girl, who in a blink, used her illusionary abilities to turn him around, straight into a punch to the face from Yang.

"And you're gonna pay for spying on us!" Yang retorted as a battle between gauntlets and greaves took place.

Noticing she was holding her own for now, Neo turned her sights on Taiyang and Emerald, who was blocking each of the thief's pistol shots with the power of his aura fists. Realizing that wasn't working, she switched back to her weapon's sickle-form, and started trying to slice at the Signal Academy teacher, her attacks blocked every time by the brass guards on his knuckles.

"Face it. You're outmatched and outnumbered, Emerald. Give up and face the consequences." Taiyang said in a low tone, trying to reason with her.

"How about no?" Emerald counterpointed as she kicked his feet out from under him. Almost before he could react, Emerald fired off a round from her pistol that narrowly grazed the side of his cheek. Knowing her missed opportunity, she quickly backpedaled and made for the helipad, making her way through the White Fang crowd busy dealing with CFVY and Goodwich. "Mercury! We're leaving!"

Mercury quickly kicked back Yang with a blast from his greaves, most of the damage absorbed by her aura, but still stunning her and leaving a bruise on her stomach. He then quickly vaulted over Fox, who was dealing with a White Fang member with a sword, and landing behind Yatsuhashi and Velvet. Deciding to pull a dirty trick before leaving, he gave a low kick to the Faunus' ankle, sending a bullet tearing through it before running off to join Emerald.

Velvet let out a pained yell as she crumpled to one knee, grabbing her foot in pain, unaware of the White Fang member behind her or of Yatsuhashi too busy with a larger member with an axe to help her.

"You don't deserve these ears, traitor." he sneered as he grabbed her by her hair, holding her in place as he produced a knife. As he prepared to bring it down to slice her ears, he found his hand stopped by another, with pristine Atlesian-styled tips on her fingernails.

"If you think I'm going to let you poach my teammate, think again." Coco growled. She then delivered a strong kick from behind him to his groin, followed by a bash to the head with her tote as he let go of Velvet and dropped to his knees.

"Cheers, Coco." Velvet thanked her team leader as she winced from the radiating pain of her gunshot wound.

"Thank me later, Velvs. Yatsu! Help her out while I find the asshat who did this!" she ordered. The giant gasped as he saw the puddle of blood around Velvet's leg and ran over to help her as Coco simply strutted past him.

Back at the landing pad, Mercury, Emerald, and a couple White Fang members who hadn't had the living crap beaten out of them found themselves cornered as Taiyang, Goodwich, Neo, and the remaining Beacon students surrounded them.

"You're completely surrounded. Surrender immediately!" Glynda ordered, gesturing her crop towards the group of criminals.

"My ammo's completely spent. You?" Emerald whispered to her partner.

"Practically on empty. What's taking him?" Mercury answered back.

"Hey! Didn't you hear her?" Yang yelled. "Give-"

Before she could finish, she was pulled aside by a red flash as something dropped out of the sky and struck the ground the blinde brawler ince stood upon with such ferocity, it left a shallow crater. Looking up at whi helped her out of the way, she found her sister looking down at her with big silvery eyes.

"That was a close one, huh?" Ruby smirked as Yang stood back up and gave her a quick hug.

"You sure you're up for this?" Yang asked.

"JNPR came to help Blake, so she has that covered." Ruby replied, drawing Crescent Rose in its rifle form. "I can do this..."

Out from the crater rose a contradiction to Ruby's statement. A familiar masked individual burst out of the crater, wielding a pickaxe, like Taiyang's fists, with a blade made of pure Aura energy. Ruby went wide-eyed as she recognized him. Fear and anger took over her actions, as with a warcry, she unfolded Crescent Rose into its scythe form and charged Timber with intent to harm.

"Well look who it is!" Timber smiled behind his mask as he caught Ruby's strike higher up on the polr of her weapon, just below the blade. He then pushed her back with a fist to the chest, disarming her before tossing it aside. "I should've finished you back in that cave instead of finishing IN you."

Now it was Yang's turn to charge him. Delivering a devastating punch to the Faunus, at least two tines stronger than her finishing blow to Junior the night she wrecked his club. However, the Faunus didn't even budge. Instead, he grabbed the blonde by her fist still connected to his neck, and whipped her in the air with superhuman strength, then slamming her intk the ground next to her sister.

"Yang!" Ruby gasped as she took note that in one strike, her sister had been knocked out. Timber then split apart his pickaxe, the aura blades disappearing and the halves of handle shortening dramatically as they formed two miniature submachine guns. Ruby quickly dived onto her sister, hoping to shield her from the shots as she heard the guns begin to fire. She was suddenly surprised as no bullets struck the two of them. She looked up to find Neo using her parasol to deflect every shot directed at them. As Timber took notice, gunfire from Coco caught him off guard as he began to retreat back towards the cliff. The gunship that dropped him off had already picked up Mercury and the remaining White Fang members able to retreat. As it flew off, another arrived in its place to pick up him and Emerald.

"You're not getting away after what you've done!" Taiyang yelled as he ran forward, a punch ready to strike him, this one with more power behind it than Yang's attempt. It never made contact as a fireball struck his chest and knocked him to the ground. Everyone turned to see a familiar brunette with a flame held in her hands, hanging out the door of the dropship waiting for him.

"Emerald, Timber, are you two done? We must be going." Cinder ordered them both in, which they did as instructed. She then turned back to her former teacher, clutching the burn on his chest as he sat up. "I'll be seeing you around, Professor Xiao Long." she mused as she launched a wall of fire ar the landing pad. Weiss and Glynda's glyph shields did a good job of covering the group from the blaze, but by the time they dissipated, the ships were out of range for any of them to strike with ranged attacks.

"...Did they get away?" Fox asked.

* * *

><p>"I still have no idea how they managed to get through our restricted airspace without warning!" Ironwood growled as he surveyed the damage. Bullet holes and blood splatters littered the courtyard in front of Beacon. Luckily, no casualties were suffered.<p>

"James, what's passed is passed. There's nothing we can do now but pick up the pieces." Ozpin remarked, surveying the damage as well.

"Either way, this aggression towards my men will not go unpunished." James fumed. "Now if you'll excuse me, old friend, I have some prisoners to interrogate." With that said, he walked towards his personal dropship to take him back to his command vessel.

In the end, thirteen White Fang members were taken by the Atlesian military, while just about the entire detail sent as Beacon security was now out of commission. All across the courtyard, AK units were cleaning up the mess left from the battle along with Glynda, who used her semblance to repair large patches of missing ground or pathway. The students involved in the battle were still present, now talking with JNPR.

"I'm just glad you're all alright. If those guys could beat Atlas' finest, who knows if they got the upper hand facing you?" Jaune hypothesized.

"What about Velvet? She got shot in the foot by Mercury." Weiss asked.

"I talked to my cousin, Yatsuhashi." Ren answered. "The doctors say she should make a full recovery. The bullet didn't do any damage that requires surgery."

"Man, that rabbit has one lucky foot." Yang remarked, having regained consciousness shortly beore Ironwood arrived. The groans and shaking of heads indicated she unintentionally made a pun. "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to make that one."

"What about you, Ruby?" Pyrrah asked. "I heard the one who...you know...attacked you all."

"Y-yeah..." Ruby said. The thought of seeing him again made the brunette shudder. Taking note, Pyrrah decided not to question it any further. "I'll be okay though."

"If you say so." the champion smiled, then turned to Neo, who was standing among them, silently listening in on the conversation. "You must be the defector. It's very kind of you to help our friends like this." she said. Neo simply smiled back and nodded before a certain Valkyrir picked her up in a bear hug.

"Welcome to the family, Ice Cream Lady!" Nora beamed, while Neo started turning blue from the lack of oxygen.

"Nora! Heel!" Ren ordered his friend like a dog, who dropped the mute on command. "I'm sorry, she's like that with everyone."

Before Neo could give a reply, Taiyang's voice suddenly sounded from behind the two sisters.

"Girls, can I have a word with you?" he asked, pulling them aside. "I'm glad you two are okay, but Ruby, you joining the fight was the most dangerous move you could pull." he scolded.

"What? Dad, I'm fine!" Ruby complained. "Now isn't a time to baby me!"

"What do you think the reason for it is?" Taiyang asked. "You're carrying precious cargo now. What if that cheap shot Velvet took was directed at your lower back? Or if Neo wasn't there to protect you from Timber? Ruby was ready to retort, but bit her lip as she mulled over his words. "Ozpin was trying to protect you both when he pulled you off of combat training and missions."

Ruby looked away, unsure of what to say to help her case. "Is this what it's going to b like these coming months?" she thought to herself. "Feeling useless like this?" Taiyang then turned to the elder sister. "Yang, I can't be around you two all the time, so promise me you'll watch out for her when you can."

"Of course, dad." Yang nodded. She then looked down at her sister sympathetically. She hadn't seen her this miserable since she got accepted to Beacon before Ruby and told her she'd be left behind.

Back in the group of JNPR, Neo and Weiss, the conversation had turned to a secretive one about what they could have been pulled away about.

"Do you two have any idea what it could be about?" Jaune asked the heiress and defector.

"No, I'm not one for gossip." Weiss lied while Neo shook her head. Both could guess the correct answer, but for now, even their closest friends shouldn't know until the time was right. However, they were unaware Pyrrah was a master of lip reading among her other sets of skills.

"Oh dear, no." she gasped.

"What are they saying?" Nora asked.

"I can only infer from what they're talking about, but..." she then whispered the rest among the others. While Weiss and Neo were disappointed how quickly they learned the truth, the others were shocked, Ren having to hold his hand over Nora's mouth to contain the oncoming outburst of her surprised realization.

"How come you didn't say anything, Weiss?" Jaune asked.

"We didn't know how anyone else would react! We just found out earlier after sparring class ourselves." Weiss admitted with a sigh.

"Weiss, Ruby's our friend too. We all understood her situation when she got out of the hospital. This doesn't change that at all." Pyrrah said, getting nods of confirmation from her teammates and a look of surprise followed by a smile from the duelist. She was glad they had such understanding friends.

"So, when do we track down the guy who did it and break his legs?" Nora asked.

"We can't do anything. Ozpin said it's too dangerous for students to-" Weiss began to complain until Neo tugged at her sleeve and gave the notion for everyone to quiet down before pointing toward a nearby Atlesian soldier talking on his radio.

"And you can confirm the sighting...Understood. I'll let General Ironwood know we should send forces to the northern part of the city." he spoke into his radio before heading off to inform his C.O.

"You guys heard that, right?" Ren asked.

"Every word." Jaune nodded. "Weiss, can you rally SSSN and STRM and get them to meet all of us in the cafeteria after it closes later?"

"Are we meeting to do what I think we're going to do?" Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep. What say we teach the guy who raped Ruby a lesson?"

* * *

><p><strong>While I was typing this, we finally broke 4k views guys! Thank you all so much for taking time to give this fic a read or two! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and are already asking questions about what's in store for the next one. "How will Jaune's plan to get revenge go?" "Will Ruby continue to doubt her future thanks to her pregnancy?" "How long until Nora crushes the life out of someone else with a massive hug?" "Can the author get any more racist than making Ren and Yatsuhashi cousins just because of their obviously Asian names?" Find out next chapter! <strong>


	8. 7: Insert Admiral Ackbar Quote Here

The echo of fingernails tapping on the table in front of him rang out through the interrogation room. He had been in the wretched room for forty-five minutes, and the only person he saw since being put inside and sat down was a guard walking by outside through a small window in the door. His attention was quickly brought to the door as he was startled by its opening. In walked the man watching over his incarceration: General James Ironwood of Atlas' Armed Forces.

"Roman." the general greeted emotionlessly as he tossed a folder in front of the crime lord who had been in his custody for a few months.

"Hey there, Jim! My friends getcha any info you needed?" Roman replied with complete sacrasm.

Ironwood rolled his eyes and sat down. "Cut the crap, Torchwick. We already saw the ships leaving towards northern Vale. Your friends we captured already confessed to the whereabouts of the hideout. I'm just looking for some confirmation is all."

"You had thirteen Faunus tell you the same thing. What more could you need?" Torchwick asked.

Ignoring the criticism, James opened the file, pointing to a map of the city, specifically a building circled in a commercial district labeled "Gav's Bevs Bar and Grill." "We've heard it's one of their many hideouts and are preparing a strike team as we speak." he informed Torchwick.

Roman simply squinted at the location, shaking his head. "No no no. This isn't right." he muttered to himself.

"I'm sorry?" James asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"Gav's shut down a long time ago. I used to go there when I was just starting out." Torchwick began to explain. "When I made it to the big leagues, and partnered up with the Fang, we moved to this industrial park here." he continued, pointing to a large cluster of buildings closer to the coastline overlooking the bay between Vale and Patch.

"I see. And why should I believe that?" Ironwood asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm already in the hands of one of the most powerful forces ever to exist. There's no escape for me. What's left for me to hide?" Torchwick asked, raising his arms as he gestured to the six-by-eight room around him.

Ironwood sat back, nodding as he mulled over the information given to him. "Fair enough." he said, accepting the information, then leaving for a moment to gather a guard to take him back to his cell, along with the other White Fang members captured by the Atlesian military during their aid in Mercury and Emerald's escape from Beacon.

"Psst, sir. Did he believe it?" the one immediately behind Torchwick in line asked.

"They always do, Perry." he whispered back, grabbing a cigar from his pocket, with some difficulty thanks to being handcuffed, and sticking it in his mouth. "Now we play the waiting game. Hey, Guard! Gotta light?"

* * *

><p>10:30 p.m. At this time, curfew goes into effect at Beacon for all first-year students, administrative offices close for the night, and the cafeteria, which closes as dinner service ends at 9:30, is locked up after its staff finishes putting away leftover food and cleaning the kitchen and dining hall. What they lack to do, only unless an event is to take place in the cafeteria is to clean the rafters. As soon as the doors locked, a layer of dust slowly floated to the ground below, followed much more quickly by Ren and Pyrrah, who landed carefully and quietly from the rafters they had been sneakily sitting on since dinner. Jaune, however, landed face first from his leap back down to the ground. Nearly a year at Beacon had passed, and he still had trouble perfecting his landing strategy.<p>

"Oww..." he groaned as Pyrrah helped him back to his feet.

A low groaning sound came from the doors, which Ren rolled his eyes upon hearing as he walked towards the door and opened it for their teammate. "I'm still not sure that's the sound a sloth makes." he told her.

"Says you." Nora retorted. "Anyway, I brought everyone!" she sang as she walked in, followed by Yang, Weiss, Neo, SSSN, and STRM.

"Hello everyone!" Pyrrah waved as they all entered.

"Hey, so what's this all about?" Scarlet asked, sitting down at a table closest to Team JNPR.

"Yeah, we've got a test first thing tomorrow morning." Rocco complained, going up to a soda machine. With a snap of his fingers in front of the coin slot, a small bolt of electricity hit the machine, and a can of root beer dropped down.

"Not a good idea to be drinking soda this late then." Mei commented.

"Moving on...from that extremely important conversation," Sun said with a hint of sarcasm. ",what're we doing here, Arc?"

Jaune sighed as he finally got to the point of why he had arranged for everyone to meet here. "We're all familiar with what happened to Ruby, right?"

"We all either saw or heard, Jaune." Turk spoke up. "What about it?"

"Well, thanks to Neo, we know who did it." Weiss added.

"And overhearing one of the soldiers back at the courtyard after Mercury and Emerald's escape, we know there still in the northern part of the city." Yang followed up.

"Oh yeah. That meeting Blake and I crashed a while back was in that area." Sun remembered.

"We had a lot of different meeting spots and hideouts in Vale, but I don't think I was anywhere else besides that one." Neo said, having retrieved her voicebox.

"So we basically have to scour the whole district?" Scarlet asked. "That'd take all night!"

"Not if ve split in teams." Snow suggested.

"That's what I was thinking." Jaune nodded. "We're going to need to section the district off and split up to search it."

"Alright. You, Pyrrah, Neptune and I can take the area by the coast line." Weiss suggested.

"Sun, Scarlet and I can take the area where that meeting took place." Sage volunteered.

"Renny and I will go look by that new 24-hour arcade that just opened up!" Nora announced, getting skeptic looks from the group, "to search for clues and not mess around whatsoever." she added, hoping to gain a little more trust from them all.

"And Turk, Mei and I vill take ze side closer to Beacon." Snow volunteered.

"Wait, what about me?" Rocco asked, before a bracelet-wearing arm was hooked around him.

"Aw,what are we to you, Rock Star? Chopped liver?" Yang joked.

"As long as that doesn't become my permanent nickname, okay." Rocco sighed.

"Too late, Rock Star." Turk joked before a scowl was sent in his direction by his teammate .

"Yang, I suggest we head to an old contact of mine." Neo suggested. "He could get us some info."

"Are you thinking of who I think you're thinking of?" the blonde asked.

* * *

><p>The three pulled up to the ever familiar club, Yang parking Bumblebee on the curb opposite the building, Neo hopping off the back seat rather childishly. Rocco pulled up behind them on a black custom chopper, slinging Cadillac Custom over his shoulder as he got off his bike.<p>

"For some reason, I knew it was here." Yang smirked, looking at the place, with two men in suits and red sunglasses quickly running inside at the site of her.

"I take it you've been here before?" Neo asked.

"Junior and I have met a couple times." Yang said innocently.

"Wait, I saw this club on the news once." Rocco thought aloud. "Some crazy chick came in here, beat up all the staff and wrecked the place."

Yang just rubbed the back of her head and laughed in an embarrassed way. "Huh. Sounds like one insane bitch, eh?"

Neo and Rocco rolled their eyes as the three entered the club. Immediately after getting through the foyer and into the dance floor, they were met with men in suits pointing guns at them.

"Hey, guys! Long time no see!" Yang smiled brightly, only met with the clicks of safeties being disabled.

"God dammit, put those down!" a deep voice rang out from the back as a tall bearded man fought through the crowd of henchmen. "Blondie. You're back. Again."

"It's okay, Junior. I'm not here to fight this time." Yang giggled, walking with him back towards the bar. "You remember Neo, right?" she gestured to her newfound ally, who gave a silent wave back.

"Oh yeah. Hadn't seen her in a while." Junior smiled as he started making hand gestures to Neo as the four walked to the bar. As they sat down, Junior quickly started making a Strawberry Sunrise how Yang liked it, a Stone Sour ordered by Rocco, and of course, a Neopolitan for the girl of the same name. Neo however was busy scribbling something on a napkin before sneakily showing it to Yang and Rocco. "He thinks I'm deaf. I think it's hilarious so don't say anything about it." it read.

Yang and Rocco hid their amusement as Junior cleared his throat.

"So, who're you looking for this time, Blondie?" Junior asked, leaning in to keep the conversation between them four.

"A Faunus named Timber Lupus, works for the White Fang. Any idea where in this district he's hiding?"

Junior scratched his beard. "Yeah, I know him. He's exchanged White Fang info for free drinks here a couple times. The twins and I can't stand him. Apparently he's a bit of a perv."

"He's also the rapist of a friend of ours." Yang said in a much darker tone.

"Oh, damn." Junior said in surprise. "Now I see why you want him found so badly."

"You know where he is or not?" Rocco asked, just receiving a raised eyebrow in response from the club owner.

"How many new boyfriends you gonna bring with you every time you come here?" He asked Yang, who just rolled her eyes and turned to the second-year axe wielder.

"I'll take care of this, okay?" she asked.

"Well what am I supposed to-" Rocco started before he caught the out of the side of his vision one of the Malachite twins wink and smile at him as they walked by. With a hand through his hair and picking up his drink, he had his answer. "I retract that statement." he said as he chased down the twins.

"Faithful guy ya got there." Junior joked.

"Pssh, not in a million years." Yang sighed. "But seriously, where's Timber?"

Junior shook his head. "I don't know. All I know is he's somewhere in the city, and after today's attack on Beacon, could be hiding anywhere here."

"The military saw his dropship fly to the north though. Anything I can do to help you be more specific?" Yang asked, handing him a couple twenty lien bills.

Junior quickly pocketed the bribe. "Don't flash it next time. The police send moles in here sometimes. Anyway, I saw the Dropships fly over when I came down here to open up for tonight. Looks like they were headed towards the old Bayview industrial park."

Yang looked over to Neo who nodded to say "That's all we need. Thanks again." Yang smiled finishing their drink.

"I'm just glad you didn't crush my nuts this time." Junior muttered as he went back to cleaning glasses, and Yang and Neo got up to leave. Before even taking a breath to call for Rocco, he had already started shuffling towards them.

"What's with you? Melanie and Milita shoot you down?" Yang teased.

"They thought I played six strings, and immediately lost interest when I pulled out my base." Rocco said rejectedly.

"Well that isn't nice. You're a good musician no matter what you play." Yang said convincingly.

Rocco raised an eyebrow. "You're serious?" he asked.

"I do! Besides..." the blonde paused as she waited for the song that had just started playing to finish her sentence.

"_I'm all about that bass, bout that bass..._" the speakers boomed, drowning out Yang's laugh at her own pun and Rocco and Neo's groans as they exited the club.

* * *

><p>The warehouse still stood nearly how Blake, Sun and the White Fang had left the old meeting spot. Albiet now, a large portion of scaffolding coverrd the side of the wall Torchwick's Paladin-class mech had burst through, and police tape from their investigation still hung over the open industrial doors. None of this still stopped the three "S"'s of Team SSSN to sneak under to do their own investigation.<p>

"Welp, nobody's here. Let's move on." Scarlet quickly said, turning to leave before Sage quietly dragged him away from the door.

"They had to leave behind something." Sun said, looking through crates, the only piece of evidence left behind was a cracked Grimm mask given to initiates.

"You must really want Ruby's rapist found." Sage commented.

"Well, yeah, as much as all our friends do. Don't take it the wrong way, but I'm more interested in punching the lights out of the guy who almost killed Blake." Sun growled, gritting his teeth.

"Oh, that makes much more sense." Scarlet thought aloud. "Getting revenge for the girl you like."

"What're you talking about? She's all our friend. Of course I like her." Sun said, confused by the redhead's statement.

"I think Scarlet means you 'like-like' her." Sage explained, complete with air quotes.

The fact that he misunderstood that coupled with the fact his teammate was dead-on causef the monkey Faunus to blush. "Okay, okay, yeah. But you say a word to anyone about it and I'll make you eat your own teeth. Got it?" Sun threatened, receiving a nod before turbing back to inspect another crate. The room was then silent enough to hear a mouse whisper until Scarlet decided to push the envelope a little further.

"Can you at least promise to name one of the cat/monkey babies after me?" he asked.

"SCARLET I SWEAR TO MONTY I WILL-" Sun started before his Scroll vibrated. Upon opening, he found a message sent to him, Snow and Weiss that read "Contact said he's at some industrial park by the coast. Meet us there."

"What is it?" Sage asked.

"Sounds like Weiss and her group are right on top of them." Sun replied, dropping the mask back in a crate as he left it. It landed with a thump too loud for the lightweight mask to make. Curious, Sun looked back into the crate. Inside was the mask on top of what looked like a clay brick with a blinking light attatched to it. "Oh, sonova-"

Without any further warning, the explosives in the crates all went off, shredding through the support beams and collapsing the abandonned building in on itself. From a nearby rooftop, Mercury threw away the detonator and dialed Cinder's number into his scroll.

"Yeah it's me. The old meeting place brought out three of those Haven students." he reported.

"And I assume the trap worked?" Cinder asked from her end.

"No survivors." Mercury smirked. "I'm headed back."

"No. Actually, join Emerald at the Bayview setup. Junior reported me that not just Atlas is showing up." Cinder said, hanging up before the silver-haired kickboxer could reply. Pocketing his phone, he left before noticing three second-year students from Beacon happening upon the wreckage on tgeir way to rendezvous with everyone else.

"What happened here?" Mei asked as she looked at the fresh wreckage, smoke still rising from the smoldering remains of crates.

Snow surveyed the mess, finding a scratched-up arm wearing a familiar red elbow guard sticking out from a pile of roof collapsed on top of him. "Sun? Comrades! Over here!" Snow called over as he started unburrying the Faunus as Turk and Mei ran over. He was able to move a large portion of debris that was enough to reveal a heavily injured Sun, his body covered in scratches, and his unbuttones shirt pelted with rips. "Sun, can you hear us?"

Turk wasted no time working on his injuries, using his semblance to heal what looked like the more serious gashes on Sun's person. "See if you can find the others." he suggested, looking around the debris around them.

"No need! I'm fine. I'll just sit over here with a broken arm and being crushed to death by a support beam!" Scarlet called from further off. He was indeed pinned under part of the framework to the once standing structure, and his left arm was bent at an angle that was most DEFINATELY passing for broken.

"Quit complaining, Scarlet. You went through worse, remember?" Sage commented, poking out of a pile of rubble next to him, looking a little better off than his other teammates, as he helped free his teammate with Snow's help.

"Whatever, it still hurts like a bitch!" Scarlet complained as he tried resetting the bone by himself, succeeding with a howl of pain.

"What even happened here?" Mei asked.

"The White Fang had the place rigged to blow." Sage explained. "We had no chance of getting out in time by the time Sun saw the bomb."

"You guys got lucky. Your auras took most of the damage, but nothing life threatening." Turk said as he finished working on Sun. The leader still wore bruises and scratches, as well as a bandage around his upper right arm and right shin, but was back to at least eighty-five percent. "You're gonna have to take it easy for now until it's restored."

"There's no time!" Sun snapped. "If they had this place rigged, what if all their possible hideouts are?"

Everyone looked amongst each other as they pondered this. "He's not wrong." Snow thought as he dialed Weiss' number.

* * *

><p>Weiss led the gang she had chosen to go with along Vale's coastline. It looked peaceful at night, the reflections of a shattered moon glistening on the bay before them as they made their way through the old industrial park.<p>

"This place gives me the creeps." Jaune commented, looking around at rusted storage tanks and abandoned buildings with broken or boarded up windows.

"Will you be quiet? What if the White Fang heard us?" Weiss snapped in a hushed but stern tone.

"Weiss is right." Neptune agreed. "We can't be attracting attention with unnecessary noise."

Weiss gave the same kind of smile she always did whenever she got her way. "My thoughts exactly. So let's-" It was at that moment, her scroll's ringtone went off, blaring the hit rock song "This Will Be The Day" throughout the park. She silently cursed as she tried to silence the call, not caring what could've been so urgetnt for Snow to call her.

"You were saying?" Jaune asked.

Before Weiss could retort, a new sound came from around the corner of the building: voices. The heiress, intellectual, champion and team leader all hid behind a large container to the side of the open area, littered with tall weeds and trash.

"Do you think it's them?" Pyrrah asked, readying Milo and Akouo for combat.

"Only one way to find out." Neptune replied as they readied their weapons and the voices got closer. Once they were just around the container, the group jumped out ready to ambush, only to be met with an assortment of floating blades thrown their way. Diving back in cover, Weiss looked up to their attacker, surprised not to find the White Fang, but a familiar red headed girl flanked by two Atleasian guards, both with guns drawn. Behind them was a practical battalion of soldiers with their guns pointed in their direction as well.

"Penny?" Weiss said, retracting her combat stance.

"Oh, Weiss!" Penny exclaimed. "My apologies. We thought you were the criminals we were here to apprehend."

"You work for the Atlesian military, Penny?" the heiress asked.

"You know these people, Penny?" one of the guards asked, lowering his gun.

"Forget about that." ordered the other. "What are you kids doing here?"

"We heard the White Fang were in the area and came to take them down." Neptune explained.

"We haven't found any White Fang activity as of now." Penny reported. "Have you?"

"Not since they attacked Beacon earlier today." Jaune said.

"That couldn't be possible." Weiss muttered. Did Neo's contact give her, Yang and Rocco bad intel? She decided to check her phone, noticing Snow's call had went to voicemail, leaving a message behind. Upon listening to it her eyes widened.

"Weiss, zis is Snow. Sun's team vas hurt in an explosion at ze old meeting place of ze White Fang. Ve think it could happen to you too. Get out of ze park! It's a trap!"

Imnediately after the message ended, the world around them exploded.

Back at Beacon, Blake was walking back from the library, which had closed after its late night studying period for all students still awake to get some shuteye. She nearly jumped as an echoing blast sounded from the city, followed by smoke rising from a spot towards the coastline. "Oh no..." she thought as she ran for her dorm to get everyone up. Little was she expecting to find only Zwei awake in the dorm, sitting atop a lump under the covers on Ruby's bunk, which she had switched with Weiss previously. The other two were empty to her dismay.

"Ruby, get up! Something's happening in Vale, and Weiss and Yang aren't here!" she explained as she gathered Gambol Shroud and prepared to head into the city. She became suspicious as she didn't receive a reply, or even heard the sound of Ruby's heavy breathing in her sleep. Concerned, she shooed the corgi off the bed and lifted the covers, finding a mound of pillows instead of her team leader. "Not you too!" she cursed, thinking she had gone off with the others. Running back out the door, she collided with somebody, bringing them both to the ground.

"Owch...Blake? What's got you in such a rush at this hour?" Taiyang asked, helping up the Faunus girl. He had just come to check on the girls, not get tackled.

"Everyone's gone, and an explosion just rocked part of Vale." Blake explained.

"I know. I saw it too." Taiyang nodded. "You think they're near the cause of it?"

"Most likely." Blake shrugged. "We always get into trouble like this when we go into town."

Taiyang motioned for her to follow. "We'll take a dropship in. Hopefully they're alright."

Little did both know two things about their assumptions were wrong: Everyone wasn't alright, and Ruby was as far from Vale as they were.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys! I didn't really have anything to say at the beginning, but this chapter, and'll probably just add notes at the bottom only from here on out. Once again, thanks for the support and attention you've been giving this fic, and I'm still looking for an artist to do a commission or two for me regarding this fic. Send me a PM if interested or know someone who can. Until then, see you guys on the next chapter!<strong>


	9. 8: Collateral Damage

The moon was shining brightly as Ruby sat by the tombstone overlooking Vale. She had always stopped by here when she felt lost, upset, or just needed someone to talk to besides Yang or her dad. Even though she wasn't around anymore, her mom always was a great listener. And it was times like this that she really needed it. She sighed as she leaned against the grave, looking at the ground below her feet.

"What am I going to do?" she asked herself out loud.

"You're still unsure of that?" a very familiar voice echoed, a voice she hadn't heard in a very long time. She looked up to see a flowing white cloaked figure standing in front of her. It turned to reveal an older woman her father's age, with big silver eyes and flowing black hair that had a tinge of red that only showed as it glistened in the moonlight. "Hello, Ruby." Summer smiled as she walked towards her daughter.

"Mom..." Ruby gasped as she got up and hugged her mother, crying silently as tears of joy streamed down her face. Summer returned the hug as she bent down and kissed the top of her head. "I can't believe it's actually you!" she said, breaking off the hug.

"I know. I wish I could actually be there whenever you visit, but this is a for an urgent reason." Summer explained, sitting with Ruby against her own tombstone.

"So I guess you've heard what's happened recently?" Ruby said, her excitement dying down.

Summer gave an empathetic sigh. "I have. You've met an unfortunate fate, haven't you?"

Ruby looked back down, placing a hand on her stomach. "I have no idea what to do about this. No matter if I keep it or not, it's going to have such an impact on my career as a Huntress."

"Heh." Summer chuckled before catching herself, as soon as she saw a confused look from her daughter. "I'm sorry, honey. It's just that kind of talk reminds me so much of when I was pregnant with you."

"It does?" Ruby asked.

"Yep! I was scared becoming a mom would ruin my chances of continuing being a hero, affect my standing as the candidate of next headmaster of Beacon, and the worst part was I was gonna get...fat!" she spat the last word out like spoiled milk.

"Well, I'm sorry having me made you a bit chubby." Ruby teased, feeling a bit better the more the conversation continued.

Summer gave a hearty laugh before responding. "No, it's perfectly fine. To be honest, like I said, I was just like how you are now: not sure what the future is going to hold for a child I'm nowhere near sure ready to start caring for."

"Wasn't Yang still really little when I was born though?" Ruby asked.

"She was already two and a half by the time you came out." Summer reminded. "Your father already got most of the experience with newborns. I showed up late for it." She looked back out at the city backdrop in front of them. "I'm going to skip to the point. I was spending my time mostly freaking out and worrying about every single thing that was going to happen, I didn't even think of how it could've been a good thing. I ended up being a great mom, and having more happiness than I ever really did from the first time I held you to the last goodbye hug I gave you before leaving on that mission. I had your father and all our friends to help out throughout the whole thing so I wasn't alone. You have your friends around to cheer you up and get you through this, not just me."

Ruby absorbed the advice as it was given to her. "And you too?" she asked. "I get what you're trying to say but-"

"I'm not going to hold back anything if you visit again, looking for someone to talk to." Summer admitted. "Come by whenever you want. I'm not going anywhere." It was then a single moonbeam started shining particularly bright upon them. They both looked up to realize the moon, usually shattered into dozens of chunks, was more full and whole-looking than it had been since it had been shattered. As it did, it almost was as if Summer's figure began to fade. "Too bad full moons only happen once in a while, eh?"

"You're leaving? Already?" Ruby asked, her eyes glistening.

"I'm not going anywhere, remember?" Summer smiled, her silver eyes glistening back. She pointed a finger at Ruby's chest. "I'm nt just under that tombstone or here standing in front of you. I'm always with you...in here."

Tears streamed down Ruby's face once again. Only for once after the past trying weeks and this awful endless day, they were tears of happiness. "Thanks, mom. I love you."

"I love you too, Ruby." Summer said, as she gave her daughter one last hug. "Oh, and if you end up keeping it, name it after me if it's a girl." she said with a wink as she vanished into thin air, her last words echoing slightly.

Ruby chuckled and wiped the tears from her eyes. "See you later, mom..." she whispered as she stared up at the moon for what seemed like forever until a pair of voices brought her attention to behind her.

"Ruby!" a familiar girl's voice called.

"I knew she'd be here." an older man's voice sighed in relief.

She turned to find Taiyang and Blake running up to her, her father pulling her into a hug. "What brought you out here this late?" he asked.

"Just visiting Mom and getting some great advice." she answered.

"Mom?" Blake asked, confused. She then shifted her eyes between the stone next to Ruby and the brunette, getting the message and feeling suddenly very sympathetic for her leader. She did remember the tale Yang told her of how Summer never returned from a mission one day, or at least, returned alive.

"That's right. Blake, this is my mother, Summer Rose." Ruby introduced her teammate to the tombstone.

Taiyang looked between the tombstone of his second love and the 'full moon' in the sky above them, only guessing how Ruby got advice from his wife who had long-since passed. "I guess an old saying about full moons are true." he thought to himself before turning back to his daughter, who was smiling genuinely as she looked back up at him. "I assume that advice was just what you needed to hear." he guessed.

"More than you know, Dad." she answered.

"Well, I'm glad to see you at least a bit happier." Blake admitted.

Before Ruby could say something else, another loud boom came from Vale, this one much bigger than the one Blake and Taiyang heard earlier, and a large smoke cloud rising from the industrial district of Vale. "Another one?" Taiyang wondered aloud.

"There was an explosion earlier?" Ruby asked. She must haven't of heard it during her conversation with Summer.

"We'll explain on the way. We need to investigate." Taiyang answered.

With a nod, the two students began following Ruby's father towards the city. As she followed them, Blake felt as though they were leaving someone else behind, back at the grave site. Dismissing it as she turned and left, she completely missed the dark red rift opening in the treeline, and a women armed with a katana walking through it.

* * *

><p>"Wa-HOO! New high score!" Nora cheered, jumping for joy in front of the arcade game which was spitting out a never ending supply of tickets. "Just ten more of these and we can afford that neon sloth sign!"<p>

"Nora, I'm going to suggest this one last time..." Ren said.

"But Reeeeeen, I want the sloth sign! We can get that lotus one next time!" the hammer-wielder whined.

"What? No, I was going to say we should be investigating to see if we can find the White Fang." he answered, only receiveing a blank stare in response. "Like we originally came to Vale to do? Remember?"

"Oooooooh, right." Nora nodded slowly. "So they're not here. Where do you think we should look next?"

Just as she asked that question, the explosion at the industrial park nearby went off, causing the ground to shudder even from this distance. "I have a few ideas." Ren shrugged.

"Okay. Should we check those out before going to where that explosion was?" Nora asked, oblivious to the sarcasm.

They then turned to the sound of two motorcycles pulling up at the door, turning to see Yang, Neo and Rocco pulling up and waving them over. "You guys see that explosion too?" Yang called over.

"All of Vale saw it." Ren replied.

"We're heading over now. Come on!" Rocco ordered.

"There's only enough room for four though..." Ren noted, noticing one of the extra seats on the two bikes was taken by Neo. A childish honk from behind him brought his attention to find Nora on a pink moped with her insignia displayed proudly on the front fender.

"Would you believe this was only a hundred thousand tickets?" she asked before pouting at Ren. "You owe me for that by the way."

"You're talking to Vale's DDR champion five years in a row." Ren rolled his eyes. "It'd take me less than an hour, now let's go!" he said, getting on the back of Nora's new ride as the three motobikes drove towards the source of the billowing smoke cloud.

* * *

><p>Weiss slowly opened her eyes, finding herself lying on the ground under a burning pile of support beams. Her aura had taken the majority of the blunt force from the force of the explosion around them and pummelong her and the others with debris. She felt the pile on top of her suddenly get lighter as something threw the beams off of her. She turned to a sitting position to find Penny standing over her, dusting off her hands, which were cut all over and showing alot of metal instead of blood or bone. "Penny...what..."<p>

"I'll explain later, Weiss. Are you okay?" the bionic girl asked.

Weiss shook the focus back into her head and nodded as she got up and dusted herself off. She looked around to find the Atlesian soldiers carrying off wounded or helping out her friends. She gasped to see Pyrrha lying bleeding and unconscious with Jaune and a soldier looking her over. Neptune was propped up against a nearby wall with bandages wrapped around his arms and head. "Is everyone alright?"

"Neptune and Pyrrha got hurt, but they're injuries aren't life threatening." Penny explained.

"Yeah, just need some rest and we'll be fine." Neptune spoke up.

"Thank goodness..." Weiss gave a sigh of relief. She then went wide-eyed as she remembered the message Snow left her just before the explosion. "Penny, tell the soldiers to lock down the area as soon as they can."

"Why, Weiss? We need to get the wounded out before the rest of the park collapses." Penny said, tilting her head in confusion.

"This was a setup. Sun and his team got hurt in an explosion like this one. We were set up!" Weiss explained, fuming with frustration that she and her friends were led into a trap.

"We'll deal with it later." Jaune spoke up, picking up Pyrrha after an Atlesian medic wrapped her wounds in gauze. "We need to get back to the others to regroup."

"I'm afraid none of you are going anywhere." a voice rang out from the sky. All looked up to find Emerald hanging out of a hovering dropship with a smug look on her face. Mercury looked over her shoulder behind her as they circled the burning industrial park.

"You two..." Weiss growled as she tried to set up a glyph to attack them, only to find her aura was still too weak as it tried to repair the damage done by the explosion. "You're not getting away with this!"

"I believe we are, Ice Queen." Mercury spoke up, producing a small handheld device in one of his hands.

"He's got another detonator?" Neptune looked up in shock.

"Everybody run!" Jaune yelled as the group tried to scatter as far as they could from the blast radius, but it never came as a shot rang out that broke the device in the silver-haired hitman's hand.

"Gah! What the-" Mercury cursed as he dropped the broken detonator out of the aircraft. The two associates of Cinder turned to the direction the shot was fired from, seeing a familiar red scythe/rifle pointed at their ship from a nearby rooftop. Ruby refolded it back to its more compact rifle form and aimed it again as Blake and Taiyang showed up behind them.

"Ruby!" Penny looked up in pleasant surprise.

"How did you know we were here?" Weiss called up.

"We didn't. What the hell is going on here?" Blake replied as the sound of three motorbike engines pulled up nearby. Yang and her followers quickly ran in, weapons drawn as they took in the sight of burning buildings and Atlesian soldiers carrying away heavily wounded allies. "My thoughts exactly." Yang concured to her teammate's previous statement.

"Don't worry. We were just leaving." Emerald sighed as she moved back into the door and the airship began to pull away.

"Stop them!" Weiss ordered as anyone combat ready with a ranged weapon took aim at the ship. Nora's grenade shots from Magnhild and Rocco's blasts of lightning dust from Cadillac Custom exploded around the ship but were just short of dealing any real damage. Neptune and Ruby tried to hit the aircraft but was either out of range or missed. It came down to Penny using her most powerful attack, forming a ball of green energy around her swords as they spun around her, then releasing it in the form of a powerful laser. The blast was just barely a miss, but enough to make the dropship pull a very sudden swerve that caused Mercury to loose his balance and fall out the side door.

"Dammit!" he growled as he landed feet first on a nearby rooftop and began to leg it the rest of the way out of there.

"Hey! Get back here!" Yang shouted as she launched herself after the fleeing dropship and runner with Ember Cilica shots. Blake and Neo joined her on the rooftops as they went after Mercury while everyone else focused on the droship, which began to flee south in an opposite route from Mercury as they split apart, Jaune and Penny staying back to get Neptune and Pyrrha out of the area safely with the other wounded.

* * *

><p>"Get. Your. Ass. Back. Here!" Yang shouted at the silver haired teen between jumps from rooftop to rooftop, Blake and Neo hot on their heels. Blake tried popping shots at the hitman with Gambol Shroud's pistol form, only to be missed thanks to serpentine maneuvers, or shielded by his grieves with well timed kicks. He gave a few examples of offense by firing his own shots back at the three girls chasing him, only for each to be dodged with ease. This kind of scene continued until he came to a hault at the end of a flat roof, the only option of escape for him being to jump into the highway in front of him as the nearby buildings were too high to make jumps to. He turned slowly to see two sets of gun gauntlets, a pistol, and a hidden blade in a parasol's shaft pointed at him.<p>

"Give up yet?" Blake glared at him.

"Not even close." he retorted, jumping onto a passing car on the highway below him and beginning to escape.

"Crap! He's getting away!" Yang growled as they watched him get further and further away.

Neo shook her head and quickly pushed the two girls forward, them letting out a yelp before landing awkwardly on a passing tractor trailer's flatbed. She then quickly followed them as she landed on top of a pickup behind them.

"A little warning next time you do that would be nice!" Yang called back, getting a shrug in response from their new mute partner.

"Just get after him!" Blake snapped as they ran towards them, jumping from car to car as they got closer to Mercury, who was now leaping to cars ahead of them to put more distance between them. He was stopped as he made it to a flatbed truck that had no cars to go forward upon around him, giving a perfect opportunity for the three do-gooders to catch up to him. Frantically, he kicked a volley of shots from his grieves at them, hitting car tires and causing them to spin out or crash. Yang was able to counter as she lept of a rolling over sedan, and with a little boost from Ember Cilica, made it to Mercury's truck. Blake was able to grapple on the streetlamps passing overhead with Gambol Shroud's grappling hook feature until she was able to join her teammate on the flatbed. Neo stayed back, waiting for a better opportunity to catch up. It was times like this she wished she added a grappling hook feature to her parasol similar to how Roman added one to his cane.

"End of the road, Mercury." Blake threatened, pointing her katana at him while Yang cocked her shotgun gauntlets.

"For you anyway." Mercury grinned arrogantly as he launched a kick at Blake that was deflected by Yang. He then dodged a few punches thrown by her until he found an opening that granted the opportunity to knee her in the stomach. She reeled back as the air was knocked out of her, only to be replaced by a volley of slashes from Blake's blades. He was able to dodge or counter most of them, but a wide slash across his chest made him wince as a shallow cut was dragged across his shirt. He jumped back, able to get a shot in between attacks from the Faunus girl that nearly threw her off the flatbed if it weren't for Yang catching her. After helping her up, she turned only to come face to face with Mercury's boot colliding with her face. The impact kicked her off of the flatbed and into the windshield of the car behind them, which happened to have Neo crouching on the hood as she prepared to make the jump. The impact of Yang colliding into the diminutive defector sent them through the glass and into the passenger seat, scaring the driver enough to spin out and crash into a guardrail.

Blake turned from looking at Mercury to see if her friends were okay, only to be kicked off to the side as well, landing hard on the pavement and nearly being hit by a police cruiser that stopped in front of her. She looked back at Mercury's truck, which had already gotten too far away to catch up to. "Dammit..." she sighed as the policemen got out of their car and pulled her off the road.

"You mind explaining what you three were doing causing the greatest traffic mess this month?" one of the cops asked as his partner went over to grab Yang and Neo. Blake could only sigh again. This was going to take alot of explaining.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the others still were chasing down the dropship containing Emerald as it tried to make its escape. Nora and Ren led the pack on their newly acquired moped, Weiss catching a ride on Rocco's bike, and Taiyang taking temporary control of his eldest daughter's motorcycle, Bumblebee, with Ruby on the backseat behind him. Nora passed the handlebars to her friend as she clambered around him to the backseat so she could fire off some more grenades at the fleeing aircraft, Ruby and Weiss firing off sniper rounds and glyphs of various types of Dust at them as well.<p>

"Can't you get us away any faster?" Emerald complained to the White Fang member flying the plane.

"We're running out of fuel. I go any faster, and we'll be out by the time we're about to lose them.

Emerald groaned and opened the side door, taking popshots with her revolvers at the the three motorcycles following them. One actually landed a hit, blowing the front tire of Ren and Nora's bike and causing the two to flip over. Nora was able to catch herself by using Magnhild's hammer form to launch herself from the crashing scooter safely while Ren relied on his agility and acrobatics to escape the crash safely, despite it leaving him behind.

"I REALLY LIKED THAT SCOOTER!" Nora yelled at the thief as another blast of her hammer launched her at the dropship , allowing her to land a hit on the engine, knocking it loose from the wing. It began spiraling out of control before coming to rest in an intersection near the courtyard where the breach occured a few weeks ago.

The other bikes pulled up to the crash, everyone taking stances as they readied their weapons, waiting for somebody to get out of the mangled wreck of metal. And waiting. And waiting.

"Are we even sure anyone survived that crash?" Rocco asked.

"It couldn't have been that bad...could it?" Weiss contemplated as she surveyed the wreck. The wing that once held the engine Nora hit tore off as it hit the ground. The fuselage was mostly still intact, though the glass was broken on impact and scratched to the chassis by the cobblestone road. She and Nora moved forward towards the door, peering inside to see if there were any survivors.

They barely had time to react as two chained sickles wrapped themselves around Magnhild's grip and Myrtenaster's blade. While the two tried to free their weaponry from the chains, they were suddenly pulled into one another, cracking their skulls against one another by the sudden jerk of the chains and knocking them both out.

"Oh, she did survive." Rocco shrugged as he ran forward as Emerald stepped over the two unconscious girls and fired a few shots at the third-year student. He deflected most of them with his axe's blades, but a shot managed to knick his shoulder. While he winced, Emerald took her opening and went on the attack, barely giving the bassist time to react and heft his weaponized instrument to block a pistol whip from the green-haired thief. While he kept her busy, Taiyang ran up from behind, putting her in a bear hug and restraining her from attacking anyone else. She struggled before able to land a strong kick to his stomach and finish him with a smash to his head from her pistol.

"Dad!" Ruby gasped as she ran over to take his place trying to restrain Emerald as she lashed back out at Rocco. A single swipe from Crescent Rose took her attention off the axewielder and to the brunette reaper. The two exchanged flurries of blows and shots before some well-timed dirty shots from Emerald gave the thief the upper hand, knocking Ruby to near unconsciousness as Ren finally caught up, gasping for air as he tried to regain his stamina.

"What'd I miss?" Ren asked as he ran up to join Rocco to face Emerald.

Thinking quickly, Emerald dived onto Ruby, pressing the tip of her sickles to the team leader's neck. "Back off, NOW!" she demanded, drawing an ever so small drop of blood from Ruby's neck with a slight addition to the pressure of her weapon's blade.

Rocco and Ren looked between themselves as they tried to think of what to do, however keeping their weapons readied. "Sorry, can't happen with what you guys pulled tearing the city apart." Rocco countered.

"Suit yourselves." Emerald shrugged. She didn't want to get her hands dirty; that was Mercury's job...

"Wait, don't kill her!" Ren interrupted.

"Yes, Emerald. Don't." A familiarly seductive voice echoed throughout the courtyard. All eyes shifted to a nearby rooftop, where Cinder was stepping down on a staircase that appeared out of thin air as she made her way to the hostage situation unfolding. "I thought I told you to keep your hands clean while we were here, didn't I?"

Emerald sighed as she retracted her sickles, still not letting go of Ruby. "Yes, ma'am." she complied. "What do we do about them?"

Cinder looked from the Huntsmen in front of her and the unconscious ones spread across the crash site, then to the skies as Atlesian ships began to arrive, becoming aware of the rouse after the trap at the industrial park worked its magic. "We get ready for the main event, of course." she informed her associate as she opened a rift of pure fire Dust, leading back to the real White Fang hideout. "Bring her along as insurance."

"No you don't!" a voice shouted. All turned to see Yang, Blake and Neo driving up in a stolen police cruiser, a good portion of the Vale Police Department behind them."

"Just go. I'll take care of it." Cinder ordered as Emerald dragged Ruby through the rift, the captive brunette giving a meek attempt to get free before slipping into full unconsciousness. Meanwhile, Cinder conjured up enough energy to release a giant blast of fire that nearly filled the entire courtyard. Its intensity actually started melting the metal on the wreckage of the dropship. Luckily, Rocco and Ren were able to get all of their unconscious friends out of the way in time. While Blake and Neo stayed back, Yang ignored the burning courtyard the police car stopped in front of and charged the fire mage, a punch of anger-fueled strength prepped for the person that instigated the plan that hurt most of her friends. As she got closer, Cinder quickly stopped her attack and jumped back into her rift, closing it upon enterance while Yang stumbled to the ground as her attack missed.

"NO!" Yang growled as she punched the ground in frustration. Once again, the enemy had kidnapped her sister, and she wasn't there to save her in time. She didn't even care how much trouble she and her friends were going to be in for the damage they caused to Vale, or the fact a very grumpy looking General Ironwood walked out of his military dropships with Professors Ozpin and Goodwich wearing similar expressions as they followed him to the group.

"You all have quite alot of explaining to do." Goodwich growled sternly.

* * *

><p><strong>That's another chapter down, and I hoped you guys enjoyed it! Hopefully, things turn out alright and the teams get sent back home with pats on their backs and slaps on their wrists...oh, and get Ruby back. That's kinda important too. XD<br>**

**Also, I need your guys' help on something. Scarlet and Sage. I have planned out this fic in it's entirety recently and even already finished the finale chapter during a brainstorming session. The only thing I haven't gotten planned is how Scarlet and Sage fight. What weapons do they use? Do their semblances aid in combat at all? Well, since Volume 3 isn't coming until later this year, and we have no idea what they'll be like. So until then, I'm open to suggestions. I hope to get some great ideas towards this and will see you guys next time!**


	10. 9: We Meet Again

**Hey everybody. It's with deep sorrow that I pass on my condolences on Monty Oum's passing. His amazing personality and creativity will never be forgotten, and I hope I speak for all of us, not just in the RWBY community, but the RT Family as a whole that we will do our best to continue on to fulfill his final wish. According to information about his passing, Monty was unconscious the entire time he was in critical care, however felt no pain and passed away peacefully surrounded by friends, family and loved ones. He unfortunately never got to pass on any final wishes during his last days. Matt Hullum's journal on Rooster Teeth's website, which confirmed his passing, asked that in lieu of any gifts or flowers to be sent to the Oum family or the RT office, he asked that we all do something creative, and pour your heart into it and make it your own. I'm doing my part not just by writing fics like these. I hope you choose to do the same. We believe it's what Monty would've wanted. He was an amazingly talented animator, creator of a damn good anime series, and of course, the greatest DDR player we've ever seen. He will be deeply missed. Moving on, I have finished this chapter, and will immediately begin working on the next as soon as this one is posted. I hope you enjoy it as you have my previous chapters, and thank you all for 7000+ views.  
><strong>

**RIP Monty Oum (1981-2015)**

* * *

><p>Ruby slowly opened her eyes, wincing as the harsh fluorescent lights shone into her silver eyes. Trying to bring up a hand to block the rays, she found doing so impossible as it felt like her arm was bound to something. She looked down at herself to find herself handcuffed to a heavy iron cage, big enough for a Boarbatusk to run laps around in. She started to hyperventilate. This was reminding her exactly of what happened last time she awoke chained to something. No matter how she struggled, Ruby found she couldn't get free, causing more panic. Her eyes only left the chain as the sound of a door unlocking and opening was brought to her attention. In entered Cinder, hand on her hip as she took in the sight of a heavily breathing brunette in a combat skirt struggling to free herself from a chain not even a Paladin mech could pull apart.<p>

"I take it you want to be let off the chain?" she asked, receiving a nod in response. With a sigh, she locked the door behind them and undid Ruby's handcuff with a wave of her hand. As her palm passed over the cuff, the chain melted off Ruby's wrist harmlessly, as if it was water melting from ice and not molten metal. "Better?"

"Not until I get out of here." Ruby said, making a bee-line for the door with her semblance, only to bounce off it quite hard, as if she body slammed herself into the floor of a bouncy castle.

"That won't be happening for the foreseeable future, little Rose." Cinder mused. "You have some things I need."

"You're not taking Crescent Rose!" Ruby gasped, taking a guess that the fire mage was after her prized weapon.

"I could care less about that oversized farming tool." Cinder said, rolling her eyes. "However, that semblance of yours..." With a palm illuminted in a blood red aura, Cinder clamped her hand down on the back of Ruby's neck. A wave of excruciating pain ripped down Ruby's spine for a moment, causing her to lose balance, only being held up by the girl keeping a firm hold of her. After what felt like hours, Cinder let the girl go, dropping her to her knees as she tried to dash away. She gasped as instead of her semblance propelling herself through the door, she just ran at a normal pace, not even making it close to the door before falling back to her knees.

"What...What did you do to me?" Ruby asked, gasping for air, looking back to look at Cinder to find she had disappeared.

"I just borrowed a little something from you." her voice rang from in front of her. Ruby looked back in front of her in shock as Cinder stood before her, a trail of autumn leaves trailing behind her before dissipating into nothingness.

"You took my sembance?" Ruby screamed. It was bad enough with everything that had happened her these past few weeks, but to add this on top of it...

"Copied it. My semblance allows me to copy any semblance of anyone I touch, and temporarily stuns them from using it for some time." Cinder explained. "In your state, you should be lucky if it recovers within a week. I hear auras weaken substantially during pregnancy."

Ruby did another double take. "How did you know about that?" she growled.

"Gossip travels fast." Cinder answered. "I can't say I support what Timber did to you, however the product of it gave me an idea. You have a friend among your fellow Beacon students who's a former White Fang member, one Blake Belladonna?"

"Leave my teammates out of this!" Ruby snapped, only to be ignored.

"She didn't just join the White Fang at a young age. She was born into it." Cinder decided to go into detail. "With their training since infancy, she became a valuable asset to their cause. I feel Timber's son or daughter could profit from the same kind of training."

Everything Cinder was talking about was both making and not making sense. "You...want my child?" Ruby asked. "I can't let you do that!"

"Foolish little Rose..." Cinder said, stepping towards her, lifting Ruby up by her chin until she was eye level with her. "You're already in my hands. I already have."

A knock on the door cut Cinder off of her monologue and drew her attention to the only exit to the room. She let go of the captive teenager and walked over to the door, only to have it blasted off its hinges and nearly hit the both of them. As the smoke around the frame settled, in stepped somebody Ruby recognized somewhat, a man with red hair and black clothing, a mask over his eyes and wielding a katana with a blackened blade, replacing a red one discarded after his escape from the southern hideout.

"Adam, what do I owe this intrusion?" Cinder seethed through her teeth.

"I heard all of it, Cinder." Adam said with a stern tone. "It's bad enough you kidnapped this girl, but now taking a baby she hasn't even had yet for your own reasons? It's illogical and inhumane."

"Since when have you had problems with inhumane treatment to humans? Remember what they did to your people, your family." Cinder reminded him, putting a hand behind her back and preparing to cast a fireball at the second traitor of the week.

"This is a matter of principal, Cinder; not just the kind followed by humans." Adam retorted. "I can't let you take this any further."

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way." Cinder growled, the fireball behind her back growing intensely enough for her to knock the Faunus off his feet.

"Watch out!" Ruby warned, but it was too late. The fireball hit Adam dead center of his chest, burning through the fabric of his shirt and sending him onto his back, the wind knocked out of him and Wilt and Blush II dropped from his grasp.

"I expected better from you, Adam. You could've been a great asset to my cause and you wasted it." Cinder glared down at him as Mercury and Emerald ran up, hearing the ruckus caused from the next room over.

"What the hell is going on?" Mercury asked, looking between his boss and the incapacitated Faunus on the floor.

"Put him somewhere I can deal with him later, and fix this door so she doesn't escape." Cinder ordered as she walked away from the two of them.

"And what are you off to do?" Emerald asked.

"I have some final preparations and additions for Phase 3 to make." she cooed, not looking back as she left the group to take care of Adam and Ruby.

* * *

><p>"I won't hear another word of it, children!" Glynda snapped, raising her voice among the protests of Yang, Weiss, Blake and the others around that were part of the reason why three buildings and a courtyard were destroyed, a twenty six car pileup on the Vale Turnpike backed up traffic for miles, and the local arcade was missing a moped that was now in pieces behind them.<p>

"But Professor..."Weiss started, but a cold glare from the instructor made even the Ice Queen of Beacon shut her mouth.

"I can understand your worry, children." Ironwood spoke up. "But you should know that my forces had this situation under control."

"By having twenty of them walk into a trap and get badly injured in an explosion?" Blake retorted.

"You'd do best to watch your tongue, Miss Belladonna." the general warned before turning to Ozpin. "As of now, any Beacon students without authorization to be off campus will be handled by my men."

"James, with all due respect, that jurisdiction falls under my domain." Ozpin encouraged.

"Not unless we're under a state of emergency, Ozpin, and after the White Fang attacks that have caused property damage to multiple parts of the city, those count as grounds as a state of emergency until further notice." Ironwood interjected.

"He's not wrong..." Taiyang nodded.

"Hey, are we all just going to forget the real problem here?" Yang asked, raising her voice.

"Miss Xiao Long, Ruby's capture is still fresh in our minds." Ironwood said, turning to the fuming blonde. "I'll assemble a team to search for her immediately."

"And they'll probably get blown up too." Rocco muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. The good general gave him a stern look and raised a finger to rebuttle, but decided to let it go and turned to leave, stopping in front of one of his captains.

"Make sure all Beacon students still in the city are rounded up and sent back to the academy until further notice." he ordered. The captain nodded and went off to relay the message while the general walked towards another group of soldiers.

"So now what do we do?" Ren asked.

"WE are going to track down Miss Rose." Glynda answered. "You all are being sent back to Beacon with two weeks detention." A chorus of protests accompanied the order given by the professor.

"Glynda, don't you think that's a bit harsh?" Taiyang asked.

"Yeah, we were just trying to help bring the man who defiled Ruby to justice." Neo added.

"Which is far out of your league for each and every one of you." Glynda said. "These individuals were able to fend off you as well as one of our best third-year teams and myself included. They're far too dangerous for first year students, and even if they weren't, Ozpin and I can't help you should Ironwood's men arrest you."

"Just watch them try." Yang growled, cracking her knuckles.

"Enough! All of you, back to Beacon. Now!" Glynda ordered, gesturing to the dropship she and Ozpin arrived from. Another round of groans sounded off as the group of students shuffled towards the dropship. Unknown to them, from a nearby rooftop, six others watched on silently as they watched the scene below unfold.

"What kind of bullshit was that?" Scarlet asked.

"The grade A kind if you ask me." Sun replied to his red-headed teammate. "They can't punish us for doing what we're being trained to do...can they?"

"Not vith Ironwood calling ze shots like zat." Snow said, crossing his arms.

"Well then, who's in the mood to be a rebel?" Mei suggested, a mischevious smile spreading across her face.

"Uh oh. Not that smile again..." Turk facepalmed.

"I don't know what that means, but I like that idea." Sun smirked.

"You do realize if we get caught, were in serious trouble, right?" Sage asked. "Beacon students are now prohibited in Vale."

"We're from Haven, in case you've forgotten, Sage." Scarlet said in a smart-alecy manner.

"And we just won't get caught then, right boys?" Mei asked, receiving an approving nod from the team leader and a sigh of surrender from their medic.

"Alright then. Let's split up and get moving then!" Sun smiled as he and his other members of SSSN split apart from the third year team STRM to cover more ground.

* * *

><p>Ruby paced around her makeshift prison cell, trying to think of a way out of there. The thoughts were constantly at war with what Cinder was planning. As much as she didn't want the child, or at least felt as though she didn't, she couldn't just let Cinder raise it as a criminal. And what did she mean by Phase 3? Was everything the White Fang had been doing these past couple months, from the Dust shipment robberies to the attack on Vale, all part of a master plan of some sort? Either way, she had to get word out to everyone. Cursing, she remembered she had left her Scroll back in her room back before she left for her mother's grave. Fighting her way out was out of the question as well. Crescent Rose was confiscated after she was re-captured, and her semblance still wasn't working after what Cinder did to her.<p>

All these thoughts just made her more dizzy, driving her to become nauseous once again. "Oh not again..." she groaned before dropping to her knees and coughing up her breakfast from earlier that day. Once she was done, wiping her mouth something caught her eye. From behind a shelf against the wall to the left of the door was a large grate leading to the ventilation shafts. "Perfect!" she lightly cheered, walking over to the shelf, which was much heavier than it looked, and took some effort to move without it scratching the floor and alerting the White Fang guards outside. Finally moving it enough for her to pry off the grate and crawl through, she did just that and began her mission to free herself.

"Okay...Now I just need to find Crescent Rose and get out of here before someone sees me." Ruby thought to herself as she crawled on her hands and knees through the vents. Ever so often she would find another grate, giving her view of the contents of each room of the hideout. In one, Mercury and Emerald were busy bickering about nonsense. One would think how they worked so well together fighting off her fellow students and the Atlesian guard. Another just seemed to be a storeroom full of White Fang members prepping weapons for something, and loading racks of them before moving them out of the room. A final one was another closet, not too different from the larger one she was stowed in. A glimmer of red metal caught her eye. On top of a crate sat her prized weapon, neatly stowed on top of a table.

"There's my girl!" she lightly cheered, before pushing the grate out, giving a loud clatter to the floor. She held her breath as she waited for a guard to walk in and catch her trying to escape.

"Hey! Everything alright in there?" a voice called.

Thinking quickly, Ruby pulled off a convincing fake deep voice to respond. "Just knocked over a chair! Sorry!" she responded.

"Well be more careful in there! We're storing alot of weapons in there, you know!" tge voice responded before heavy footsteps slowly growing quieter, allowing the captive brunette a sigh of relief as she walked over to the table and retrieved her weapon.

"Alright! Now to just-" Ruby started as the door abruptly opened.

"Wait a minute, who's in here?" said the voice as Ruby turned to face the towering White Fang liuetenant, Timber. "Oh. Well, we meet again, Little Red." he grinned behind his mask.

Ruby put on a brave facade as she pulled back Crescent Rose's safety and aimed it at her rapist. "Stay back." she ordered, her hand shaking slightly.

"Or what?" Timber asked, an air of smugness around him as he stepped slowly towards her. "You shoot me and attract every Faunus in here? They aren't going to be too happy, I'll tell ya."

Ruby stepped backwards until she was back against a stack of crates, her hands trembling but still not taking aim off of the Faunus. "I...I'll take my chances." she stammered, her courage slowly ebbing away.

"Sure you will." he cooed as he got close enough to push the barrel of Ruby's sniper away from his general direction.

"Do you even know what you did to me, you monster?" Ruby hissed, trying to rehoist her weapon out of Timber's grasp.

"Hey, that's all on you. I didn't hear you say no." Timber replied

"Well, it might have had something to do with you covering my mouth the whole time I was screaming it!" Ruby snapped, tears welling up as she had to relive that painful memory of that night.

"Who cares? I had my fun and you had yours. As far as I care right now..." he growled as he drew Umbral Claw, in its twin submachine gun form, before slapping the two weapons together to form their combined pickaxe version with an Aura Blade. "...I have orders that say you aren't allowed out of your cell."

Ruby quickly rolled to her side as Timber brought his weapon down on top of where she was standing, switching Crescent Rose to its scythe mode. She ran at Timber with a volley of slashes ready to be thrown at him, only for the curve of his shorter pickaxe's blade to hook onto the sickle and pull Ruby towards him until she was in range to be clocked in the face. She reeled back, falling onto her behind as she started to crawl backwards away from Timber as he walked towards her.

"Guess this is it for you. Too bad. I was hoping I'd have time for a Round Two." Timber joked darkly, lifting Umbral Claw above his head, ready to strike down upon her.

Ruby could only close her eyes, ready for what she thought would be the inevitable. Instead, the familiar clashing of a metal blade against metal. She looked back up to see a newcomer with long black hair and a red and grey battle dress and girdle standing above her, a sword blocking the pickaxe from its intended target. She shoved Timber back enough for her to turn back to Ruby, revealing a much more elaborate Grim mask hiding her face.

"Who are you?" she asked. The figure never answered as she helped her to her feet and pushed her backwards. Instead of the wall breaking her fall, she suddenly found herself falling onto the soft turf of freshly cut grass under the open air of a night sky. She looked back to her front. In front of her, dark crimson portal had just spewed out her masked saviour before closing and revealing the backdrop of Beacon Academy.


	11. 10: What's Really Going On

"Those idiots!" Yang growled pacing about the dropship, her arms folded as she angrily went back and forth between the front of the dropship to its back. A single Atlesian guard oversaw the lot, whoch included JNPR, Weiss, Blake, Rocco, Neo and Neptune among the furious blonde.

"Yang, I know you're angry, but getting arrested is the last thing we need right now." Blake said, trying to get the girl to calm down.

"Easy for the only child to say! My sister is back in White Fang hands and we're not even allowed to help look for her!"

"Well, we did cause alot of collateral damage along the way doing so." Ren pointed out. "Plus, two of us are still out of commission." he continued, looking at a heavily bandaged Neptune and a still unconscious Pyrrha.

"And I'm ready to cause even more if it means I get my sister back!" Yang shouted at the martial artist.

"No need! She's right down there!" Nora cheerily pointed out as she looked out the window and down at Beacon's forward quad in front of the landing pad.

"Nora, this isn't really the time for joking." Jaune sighed.

"No really!" Nora said, pressing both blondes' faces against the glass. Down on the quad, sure enough, was Ruby, standing on the grass below them with an unknown masked individual.

"Oh my Monty! It is her!" Yang gasped as she jumped out of the ship before it even began to land, her aura cushioning the fall. She ran straight to the grassy knoll Ruby and her saviour stood upon, calling her name the whole way.

"Huh? Yang?" Ruby turned to see her older half-sister barring down on top of her, pulling her into a bear hug not even the world's strongest Ursa could break free from.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're okay! Are you hurt? What did those White Fang bastards do to you?" Yang asked a million questions a minute.

"Uh, I can't...tell you...with you...choking me!" Ruby squeaked out before Yang let go and allowed her younger sister to breathe. Before she could finally answer the questions, a blur of orange and pink tackled her to the ground.

"She's back! I'm so happy!" Nora screamed, crying tears of joy before Blake and Ren pried her off.

"Sorry about that, sis." Yang said, finally calmed down.

"We're glad you're alright." Weiss said in a relieved tone. "Yang was ready to tear Vale apart to find you again."

"I wasn't THAT upset..." Yang rolled her eyes.

"You looked as if you were ready to punch a hole through Ironwood's chest when he ordered us to stay under house arrest at Beacon." Rocco challenged as she glared at him.

"Can we get back to the point at hand?" Blake asked, turning to Ruby. "How did you escape?"

"Oh! With her help!" Ruby smiled, gesturing to the masked individual who emancipated her.

"You?" Yang said, her voice darkening, as she stepped forward to face the masked female.

"You know her?" Ruby asked, tilting her head as a sign of confusion.

"We both know her, Ruby." Yang answered. "Isn't that right? Mom?"

The masked individual gave an audible sigh as she removed her mask. Standing before the group was a spitting image of Yang with black flowing hair and red eyes.

"Auntie Raven?" Ruby gasped.

"Hello again, Ruby." Raven smiled. "Glad I was able to save you in time." She scanned the group, pausing as her eyes fixated on the diminutive assassin that nearly killed her daughter on a train car not too long ago. "What's she doing here?" she glared, putting a hand on her sword.

Neo's eyes turned white with fear once again as she backed away slowly, grabbing her voicebox to try and explain herself. "Wait! Please!" she pleaded.

"After you tried to kill my daughter? I don't think so." Raven said coldly, drawing a red Dust-infused blade and pointing it at Neo.

"Auntie, please! She's on our side now!" Ruby said, getting in between the two of them. "Neo's on our side now! She's been helping us find the White Fang!"

Raven looked between her niece and Neo, sighing as she retracted her katana. "Fine, but I have my eye on you, girl." Raven glared while Neo gave a sigh of relief.

"I'm REALLY getting tired of getting ignored over here!" Yang glared, her eyes starting to glow orange and her hair flaring up slightly.

"What's the matter, Yang?" Blake asked. "You told me you've been looking for your mom for so long."

"Is that why we went into the woods that day when we were kids?" Ruby asked.

"Yes and yes." Yang snorted. "So I could ask her why she abandoned me as a baby!" she exclaimed.

"Yang, this isn't the time..." Raven started.

"Then when is the time? Another eighteen years from now?" Yang asked.

Raven bit her lip, while the group looked awkwardly between one another. The silence only broke as Ruby stepped forward. "Yang, please. The fact she wasn't there for you when you grew up doesn't matter now. She saved me, and she's here now. Can't you at least be happy about that?" she pleaded.

Yang said nothing and folded her arms as she turned away.

"Ruby, you and your friends go rest up. I'll settle this." Raven asked as she put a hand on Yang's shoulder which was very quickly shrugged off.

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked in response.

"Trust me. I think Yang will get all the answers she needs after this." Raven nodded as she shooed the others away. The group slowly shuffled back to the campus, all heading to the infirmary to check on Pyrrha and Neptune when a thought overcame one of them.

"Hey, has anybody seen the rest of SSSN?" Nora asked.

"Yeah, the rest of my team isn't here either..." Rocco noted.

"Maybe they're on another dropship that hasn't arrived yet?" Ren hypothesized.

"But they would've shown up by now." Blake asked. "Where could they be?"

* * *

><p>Back in Vale's outskirts, the majority of the two remaining teams in the city had happened upon a different industrial park than the one that had been destroyed an hour ago. This one seemed im much more disrepair. Brush and ivy grew prosperously up cracked brick walls. Windows and doors were broken off, but still being actively used by Faunus walking around the mess of a construct that should've been torn down quite a long time ago.<p>

"So this is the place, huh?" Sage commented as his group of teammates hid behind a bush from the White Fang scouts.

"Do you see anywhere else that has a bunch of people in Grim masks toting around that kind of firepower?" Scarlet asked, sarcastically, motioning to the two guards at the front gate wielding matching assault rifles.

"So how are we supposed to get in?" Sun asked.

"Don't worry. Ve're already on it." a voice asked that caused the blonde and redhead to nearly jump out of their skin. They turned to see Snow morph out of the ground behind them, kneeling down as to not reveal their position.

"Holy crap, dude! Don't do that!" Sun said in a hushed tone.

"It's my semblance. I cannot change it." Snow shrugged as Turk and Mei joined in behind him.

"How'd you guys find us?" Sage asked.

"A little birdie told me." Mei smiled, holding up a sparrow on her finger and listening to its chatter as if it were speaking plain English. "Well, you do that, and I'll take care of these bad people that are scaring your friends from their nesting grounds." she said as it flew off her finger.

"Was she just talking to a bird?" Scarlet asked.

"Semblances are a funny thing, aren't they?" she smiled, tilting her head sideways. "Anwyay, I have an idea, Snow, if you're up for it."

After a quick discussion of how things would go down, the third year leader agreed as everyone got into their positions.

"On your go, Mei" Turk nodded from behind a tree, further back on the path that led to the hideout from where SSS was. He readied Ebb and Flow into its shotgun form should things go south. With a silent nod, Mei sauntered out into the open on the path, Aslon Fury tucked away and leaving her looking like a normal unarmed Faunus. She kept walking up to the hideout until the White Fang guards took notice and aimed their rifles at her.

"Hold up! What're you doing out here?" One called out as she got closer before stopping in her tracks. The two walked up to her, guns not being taken off her for a moment.

"Oh, a friend told me I could find you guys here. I'm looking to join you guys." Mei lied.

The two guards looked at each other for a moment. "Who told you that?" the second asked.

Mei had to think quickly. Right off the top of her head, she came up with a name to use as her alibi. "Peter. He's a rabbit Faunus that joined when you guys first came to town." she went on.

They gave her an odd look that made her feel like she was compromised. Sun and Turk took notice and aimed their guns, ready to fire the moment they fired on her first. Luckily they took the bait and lowered their guns. "Oh, really? I'm a friend of Peter's!" the first said cheerily.

"Yeah, he's kind of a loudmouth though, huh?" the second agreed as they shared a laugh.

"Heh, yeah. The dude won't shut up sometimes." Mei joked along, only for the guns to be shoved back in her face.

"Yeah...I don't." Peter growled as he flicked his lizard-like tongue at her. "And last I checked,I'm not a rabbit, and I've never seen you before. So why don't you tell us why you're really here?"

"I could tell you, but my friend wouldn't like that very much." Mei smirked.

"Friend?" the second guard asked, only to be knocked out by the hilt of Unique Blizzard as Snow jumped out of the ground behind them, and shoulder charge Peter into the wall, separating him from his weapon, and rendering him unconscious with Mei's kick to the head.

"Da. Friend." Snow nodded to the knocked out guard beneath him as everyone came out of hiding, taking position in front of the gate.

"Alright, now we get in, get Ruby, and get out." Sun reminded, fishing a key off of Peter and sticking it through the keyhole of the giant doors in front of them. With a light click, the locking mechanism was released and the doors opened, all six young adults ready to get inside and save their friend. Instead, they came face to face with three Paladin mechs and a large group of White Fang members aiming rifles and bladed weaponry at them. At the front of the group stood Mercury with a smug look on his face.

"Maybe next time you guys try to sneak in somewhere, you'll do it a little more quietly." he grinned. "Drop your weapons. Now."

With a collective sigh, the six of them dropped their weapons and allowed the insurgents to take them captive.

* * *

><p>"Ah! It's cold!" Ruby gasped as an ice pack was placed over the black eye she sustained from her run in with Timber.<p>

"Well, it is an ice pack. I can get a towel to wrap it in, but direct contact helps reduce swelling." The nurse explained, getting a small washcloth from a cupboard next to Ruby's examination table and handing it to the brunette.

"Thank you. Are my friends going to be okay?" Ruby asked, rewrapping the ice pack in the cloth before placing it back over her eye.

"I was just about to check. Care to join me?" she asked as Ruby gave a nod, following the blonde nurse out to the main room of Beacon's infirmary. The first three beds to their left were occupied. Velvet, her foot wrapped in heavy duty bandages from Mercury's dirty trick earlier, gave a wave from the first as the visiting Coco gave a small nod. The second bed, separated from Velvet's by a dividing wall, was taken by Neptune. He sat upon the side of the bed, talking with Weiss as the nurse walked in.

"How's your arm feeling, Mr. Vasillas?" she asked, taking up a clipboard from his bedpost.

"Still kinda sore. I can move my fingers again if that means anything." Neptune answered, flexing his fingers slightly.

"Well, that's good to see your aura starting to repair the damage, but as a precaution, you should stay out of combat, training or otherwise, for at least the next three days." the nurse said, taking a note of his improvement.

"Well, okay then." Neptune nodded as Weiss spoke up.

"How about you, Ruby? How's your eye feeling?" the heiress asked, looking over at her team leader.

"It'll be okay. Just bruised." Ruby nodded. "Where's everyone else?"

"Either nextdoor with Pyrrha or outside, waiting." Neptune explained.

The nurse motioned for Ruby to follow her, leading her to the other side of the second dividing wall, where a third bed that contained a still unconscious Pyrrha, her teammates sitting bedside, Jaune holding on to her hand, where an IV needle was stuck to her wrist.

"Hey, Ruby, Nurse Thompson." Jaune smiled as the group walked in, Nora and Ren giving greetings as well.

"How's Pyrrha?" Ruby asked, looking at the Mistralian warrior lying on the bed, bandages over her head and over the numerous other cuts she received on her body in that explosion. She among others never would've expected the "Invincible Girl" to be injured and out of commission.

"Well, most of her wounds are minor and didn't need much treatment." Nurse Thompson explained, moving to the side of the bed Jaune sat beside and starting to undo the bandage. Ruby could make out a decent gash the length of a crayon across Pyrrha's forehead. "This one, however, left her with a moderate concussion, and at her best luck, leave a minor scar." she went on, rewrapping the cut just as Pyrrha began to stir.

"Is she waking up?" Nora asked excitedly.

Her answer was given as emerald orbs fluttered open slowly, blearily looking around at her new surroundings, focusing more on her team leader. "J-jaune?" she grogilly called out.

"Just relax, Pyrrha. We're back at Beacon and we're all okay." Jaune reassured his teammate, retaking his side by her as the nurse got out of their way.

"Oh man. I feel terrible that you guys went through all this trouble to try and help me." Ruby apologized.

"Ruby, we're you're friends. If what happened to you happened to anyone of us instead, we'd do the same thing we did tonight." Jaune explained.

"Even if not, this is what we're training for. I don't know what the White Fang's motive is, but we need to put an end to it." Ren added.

Ruby gave out a small smile as the door to the infirmary suddenly opened, Blake walking through in a panic.

"We have a problem." she said, holding up her Scroll.

* * *

><p>The sun's rays were just peaking over the horizon as Raven and Yang sat upon the roof of the dorm buildings. They had been sitting togther for over twenty minutes, and neither had said more than a couple words to each other yet. Mostly, they were just attempts Raven made to talk to her daughter, only to be shut up by said daughter. Finally, she calmed down enough with a sigh, allowed her birth mother to explain herself.<p>

"Okay. You can explain now." Yang answered emotionlessly.

Raven took a moment to think of how she would begin to explain. Obviously, she had to tell her the truth, but even then, there was so much, she didn't even have time to explain why she didn't have time to explain. "Yang..." she started. "Let me begin by saying you have every right to be mad with me, leaving you when you weren't even a week old."

"Great start." Yang growled, her teeth clenched as old wounds reopened.

"But if you knew what I've been up to, what I've been trying to prevent, maybe at my very best luck, you'll at least understand why I had to leave." Raven began. "You've seen enemies such as Goliaths and Nevermores, but there exist others you would not believe."

"I think I've seen enough to know what's out there." Yang said coldly, still not even the slightest convinced.

"Half a year of studies and missions outside the safe zones isn't much. In twenty years of being a Huntress, I've found something that could turn Vale into ruins within days of finding it." Raven spoke gravely.

Yang actually had her interest piqued as she turned to face her for the first time since they made it up to the roof. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

Raven pulled out a small book, the title written in a language the blonde brawler couldn't begin to make sense of, let alone recognize from her knowledge of world cultures. "This is from a library I found in Vacuo that taught me what I know of now." she explained, flipping it open to the first couple pages that depicted maps of the four kingdoms, each labled in the same dead language. "Have you ever wondered where Grimm truly come from?" she asked.

"Everyone knows. They're spirits that manifested themselves into beasts." Yang answered.

"Well, yes, but that's a simplified version." she corrected, flipping backward a few pages. "You see, during the Dawn of Man, humanity quickly flourished, building great civilizations and advancing their technology to levels we never thought possible. The lands we roamed became powerful, but there was one lord, Lord Grim, who seeked to grow more powerful than the rest. He was able to harness the power of darkness and hatred, and used his power to give rise to armies of monsters under his control."

"He created the Grimm?" Yang asked, looking closer over her mother's shoulder.

"Indeed. With each army, he appointed 'generals', so to speak; monstrous, sentient beings known as Alpha-Grimm that would command assaults on each major land and do his bidding. As his influence spread across the globe, armies fell, villages razed, entire civilizations reduced to extinction. It seemed nobody could stop Lord Grim's unstoppable legions until he came." Raven went on, flipping to a page of a man holding a dust crystal. "Monty Oum: The first human ever to wield Dust as a weapon. He taught his newfound power to others and raised his own legion to fend off the Grimm, opening a path directly to the evil lord himself, who he defeated singlehandedly."

"Then, why are Grimm still around? If Monty defeated Lord Grim, why are his creations still around today?" Yang asked. Wordlessly, Raven turned another page before continuing.

"With Lord Grim slain, the Alpha-Grimm became unchained and primal. Their tether to human control was severed, allowing them to grow stronger than even their creator ever imagined. They grew in power to the point they could manipulate space and time to create their own Grimm out of thin air. Monty thought imprisoning the beasts in deep, secluded dungeons, would keep their influence from spreading. He was able to take the Alpha-Grimm captive, and one by one, imprisoned them from the world on four different corners of the globe, under each of the four kingdoms. However, he never accounted for the fact they would be able to maintain their grip on their Grimm armies. For thousands of years, Grimm have attacked humanity, trying to overthrow it and reclaim its position as rulers of the world by freeing their masters. That is why the kingdoms were built where they stand. They act as the last line of defense from the vaults in which their masters are kept, and that is why they attack us day in and day out." She flipped back to the page showing the locations of each dungeon. The one under Vale seemed to be buried underneath the city." I was tasked days before you were born to try and find a way into these dungeons and slay the Alpha-Grim before their minions ,or someone else,free them, straight from Vale's governing council itself. I was sworn to tell nobody, not even your father. It may have ruined relationships with you two, but know what we're trying to do is for the sake of everyone."

Yang looked between her and the book before asking another question. "Who else knows about this?" she asked.

"I brought a group of some of the greatest Huntsmen and Huntresses I've ever known to try and assist me in stopping the Alpha-Grimm. You know quite a few of them: Professor Ozpin, General James Ironwood, your Uncle Qrow..."

"How many of my instructors are part of this?" Yang thought to herself as she tuned out the growing list Raven rambled on about. While she continued, Yang remembered something important that seemed to only be touched on lightly. "Wait, you said 'someone' could free these Alpha-Grimm. Who would want to free them?"

Raven sighed, flipping back to the page that detailed Lord Grim's powers. "I did. Lord Grim created these beasts, so he created contingencies to replace them under his control should they become independent. Someone controlling the White Fang must have found the way to do so.

"Cinder?" Yang asked. Red eyes widened and refocused on her daughter, slamming the book shut.

"As in Cinder Fall?" Raven asked, her daughter nodding in response. "Then it's happening sooner than I thought...Yang, I don't have time to explain the major details.."

"All that was only the minor ones?" Yang asked.

Ignoring the interruption, Raven continued. "...But just remember, I only left to make sure the world stayed safe for you. You've grown up to be a capable fighter and I couldn't be more proud of you, but this kind of power is way beyond your comprehension. Promise me you'll stay safe and not try to bring these things down on your own."

Yang shook her head. "I can't promise that." She followed up by putting a hand on the book in Raven's lap. "Because I want to help you put a stop to it."

Raven's eyes watered with tears of pride as she brought her daughter into a hug. It quickly ended as the calling of their names from below was brought to their attention.

"Yaaang! Auntie Raven!" Ruby called.

"Ruby? What's wrong?" Yang called, she and her mother starting to climb down.

"It's Sun and Snow's teams!" Ruby explained.

* * *

><p>The video on Blake's Scroll showed a hastily recorded video, starting out with Sun, Sage, Scarlet, Mei, Snow, and Turk bound, gagged and blindfolded with a gun stuck at each of their heads by White Fang initiates. Cinder then walked into the frame.<p>

"This is a message to those of you who think you can stop us. For years, you've lived in a states of ignorance; stuck in safe havens and not bothered by the state of the world it's in today. Your governments have lied to you. I know for a fact they protect the reason why the Grimm, the beasts that have been the reasons why we've lost friends, family, loved ones, exist and continue to threaten our existence. They keep them safe under the houses you think are protected from these monsters. That's where we come in. With the White Fang, I have raised an army that can bring these beasts down, and usher in a new world order in which we don't need to fear these monsters anymore, in which we have no need to spend millions of Lien on schools dedicated to hunting these beasts down, a world where we are finally safe."

She then walked over to Sun, grabbing him by his face and positioning it toward the camera.

"And the best part is that they know this. Huntsmen and Huntresses know what the government does, and take no precaution to stop the monsters they train to exterminate for us. Funny, isn't it? How they know their ultimate goal is in sight and they refuse to reach it? I find it rather selfish..." her seductive smile turned to a cold stare as she summoned a large spear of floating glass shards, positioning them at someone off screen. Blake gasped in horror as the camera panned to a seventh hostage, Adam, tied to a chair without any other bindings. His mask was removed, revealing a bruised face with tired maroon eyes glaring up at Cinder. "Which is why this traitor will be an example of what will happen to whoever tries to stop us."

With no effort and a wave of her hand, the shards propelled forward and pierced through Adam's chest, shoulder, and legs. He let out a bloodcurdling scream as they broke past his aura and punched into his chest like bullets. With a sigh, Cinder stopped her onslaught and turned back to the camera.

"He won't survive the next volley. Take down the lockdown over Vale, or every ten minutes it remains active, each of them will experience the same fate as him." Cinder ordered.

With that, the video ended, the crowd gathered around Blake's Scroll looked at each other, horrified with the levels the White Fang were ready to go to in order to see their goal through.

"They can't be serious." Jaune gasped.

"Did you see what they did to Adam?" Blake asked, worried for her former partner. "They wouldn't do that unless they're truly desperate."

"Nobody's going to try and stop them. Ironwood's infamous for not negotiating with terrorists." Weiss noted.

"Well what are we supposed to do? They'll kill them the moment we try to free them ourselves." Rocco hypothesized.

"Then we take them with the element of surprise, just like how I saved Ruby." Raven answered, taking her katana and opening a portal.

"What about the lockdown?" Ren asked.

"To hell with the lockdown. Our friends are in trouble, Ren!" Nora cried out, taking Magnhild and prepping it for battle. With a sigh, he followed suit and slid Stormflower out of his sleeves. Everyone else produced their weapons and started walking into the portal. Just as Ruby was about to walk through, she looked behind them to see Neptune and Pyrrha remaining behind.

"We're bringing them back. They'll be alright." Ruby promised.

"We'd never doubt that for a second." Pyrrha smiled. "Give them hell, Ruby."

With a smile and a nod, Ruby walked through the portal as it closed behind her

**Okay, that's done with. This is probably the longest, if not second longest, chapter I've written for this fic. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Now that that's out of the way, a little opportunity for you all. Cinder's plan has been revealed, and you now know what is going to happen should the Huntsmen and Huntresses of Vale fail their mission. Team RWBY is going to need all the help they can get taking down Cinder, the White Fang, and of course, the Alpha-Grim. Which is why I'm openly taking casting for OC huntsmen and huntresses, teams or solo. If you're interested, leave your OC descriptions or fics they're featured in in the reviews, and hopefully they'll be part of the final battle! I hope to see alot of submissions and I'll see you guys next time!**


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